B is Three!

Today was my baby B's third birthday! Her name is Beverly Jeane, but we call her Betsy. Last night we had her "birthday party" which actually consisted of really good food & family (Des and her kids came down too), plus some pirate decorations and red-frosted cupcakes. She was very happy.

Following are some pics of B throughout this past year, and at her party last night. Couldn't put them all up because she's in her underwear (always it seems) (don't want the childp-rn ppl to steal her pics). Notice she ALWAYS has something on her face! LOL!

Fun Times, Happy Birthday Richie too

So it's been a while, not that there is never stuff going on at my house, but rather there is usually so much going on, it tires me out. Like particularly right now, I could sleep until about, hmmm, mid-November.

Ok, first off, some knitting and handmade, crafty knitting accessories. Here is the Pretty Diamond baby hat that I had such trouble knitting last month. I like the diamond pattern, but don't like that it didn't show up very well in the pale color and weird texture of the acrylic. I LOVE the pompom. I was trimming it round and when it got to the crazy tufts out of the top, I knew it was time to quit.






I had an Alchemy request on Etsy to make a pair of straight (?) knitting needles, 20-30" long from some of our recycled pear wood.

I came up with these... they are 26" long, completely smooth and have branch knots for stops. The lady who requested them is very pleased!


Des and Tony were down at my house yesterday. We came into a kind of windfall and one of the mature, grown-up, responsible things we did was to buy a new dishwasher. Ours in this house must have been made in 1963. We practically had to wash the dishes to dishwasher the dishes. So Tony and the rest of the Army Corps of Engineers put the new dishwasher in.

While they did that, Des made a pair of straight knitting needles from the pearwood. They are about 12" long and about a size 11. Very cool indeed, and available in Artemas' GotWood4You Etsy shop.

B has been taking some pics again. She caught Artemas in what is fast becoming his Favorite chair, that he better not get used to, because it is getting recovered and going to live at Des' house.

She also took a pic of Diantha reclining on the couch like she has no chores to do, and brother Josiah (who will be 9 next month), looking like he is up to no good.

Oh and the ubiquitous cat, D.O.G., who is asleep everywhere in the house all the time.

Today while walking around in a parking lot in the rain, I felt water seep through the soles of my shoes and into my socks. Before breakfast and when I was about to be out for the day, mind you. I discovered that there was a crack in the sole of each shoe. So in our birthday-day travels, just Richie and I on a date, we got me a new pair of shoes.

I usually have to wear only leather shoes, I am allergic to acrylic. But winter is coming, so most of the time I will wear my leather biker boots. When I need to wear sneaks, I will have these, and be BEAST. I'm sure you understand. B took the pic for me. My jeans are really NOT too short, I held them up so the shoe would show better. (sure)

For Richard's birthday, we ate at the Chinese Buffet. A big mistake on my part, that was. The kids and I also made him a delicious cake from scratch, his favorite. Worman Chocolate Cake. (above)

Ok, the big news. I really wasn't going for World's Oldest Naturally-Occurring Pregnancy (that woman was 56 years old, by the way), but surprise, surprise. If all goes as planned, we are going to introduce another new little Ross to the world sometime in late Spring. Deviating from my norm (I've had the last 5 kids at home), I actually went to a [gasp!] doctor today to start prenatal care. I really like this woman, who attended me when I went in after Beverly was born, and attended Des when Hannah was born, and is herself a mom of 4 boys. So after a hefty down payment, we got a picture of Pepé Le Bean. Enjoy.

Just Totally... Oh, Look! A Chicken!

I get the Bad Blogger of the Year award, because it has been 8 days since I posted. I have been totally uninspired. Or perhaps rather, completely overwhelmed and exhausted. Yes, folks, even Wonder Woman needs rest sometime.

Ok, I guess first on the list. In 23 years of homeschooling, we have never had lice. I don't know how people whose kids go to school cope, but the little public-school girl next door unknowingly gifted us with lice, and despite treatments every 4 days, cleaning bedding, etc., meticulous combing and picking, I am still finding *a* nymph or two every time we treat, after 6 weeks. The kids have been good natured and patient about it. The boys shaved their heads. The rest of us, with hair ranging from 6" (Beverly) to 2 feet long (me), are just about sick of lice treatments. Maybe next time will be the last.

Did I say something about a chicken? Can't remember if I posted this or not. But our 7 week old chickens are now in their coop, and they are very happy. Don't they look happy? And I am happy that they are no longer in a large box on my front porch, in the 95-degree F heat. Whew.


So we had a yard sale. Des and Tony hauled all their stuff from moving, down here over 30 miles from their house, and I cleaned out stuff, and stuff, and stuff. We cleaned and ticketed and sorted. Put out signs, put up a tent, sat in the 95-degree heat Friday (I was out from 7:30AM to 5 PM). Saturday did it all again. I made about what my dh makes in one day at work, in the air conditioning, $100. Told my dh I could have made that on my back in 2 hours. He said "Yeah, but it might be hard to find 20 willing guys. Har, Har. (or should I say, "Ho,Ho"?) Des and I were both struck with heat prostration (mine hit on the way to church to keep the nursery, and I had to come home). If I never have another yard sale again, it would be fine.

Diantha went to auditions for a Christian modeling agency Friday evening. Saturday she got her callback. So from now until January she will have a coach, and in January she will make a trip to Orlando FL for a scouting convention from major agencies like Ford, Nickelodeon, Mattel, etc. The trip will cost $3600 so from now until then, all our Etsy profits that aren't going to the Youth Center, will go to fund-raise for her trip.

I bought some beautiful stone whorls to make some spindles out of. There are 3 or 4 more that aren't shown here but I love these. Clockwise from left:

Blue Dumortierite 50 mm

Purple Mookaite 40 mm

Dalmation Jasper 50mm

Black Onyx 40mm (very light)

Pink Rhodonite 50mm

Pink Onyx 50 mm

Center: Orange Mosaic Flower Turquoise 50mm (very heavy for it's size!)

I also got a gorgeous spindle in the mail. I will try to get pics of my surprise package tomorrow and post them. Wonderful stuff!

So, as if two days in a row weren't enough in the heat. Sunday my little grandson Jeremiah turned 4. Big boy!! Looks *just* like his daddy too! So we all trooped to Clinton to a really nice little park which happens to be just past a rock drainage ditch across from the back yard of the house Des and Tony are buying. Hung out for a couple hours having pizza and pasta salad and cake, then retired to Des' house for the afternoon/evening where eventually I pried myself out of a really good book and made pancakes 'n' cheesy eggs for dinner and helped Des pack up a few more boxes of stuff. A week to go to Moving Day.

Beverly held up alright in the park, but looks sleepy and sweaty here. Precious though!

I made some Ugly yarn. I hand dyed this formerly pink to a cantaloupe color. Nice cotton-blend summer sock weight, but not quite enough for a whole pair of even short socks, unless a toe and heel are added. So I was going to put this skein of green/blue recycled sock weight that I actually BOUGHT at one time with it, like cantaloupe and rind(?), add the pattern for these socks that I did for Diantha, and sell it as a package. (Pic of the socks has been paled out for color comparison to the yarns. The real sock is hurt-your-eyes orange-red and deep turquoise, LOL) But I think I am too chicken to put it up and never see it sell. So whaddya t'ink? Should I list it? Or should I hold a giveaway on the blog and give it to someone creative? Make it conditional that they have a month to send back pics of something interesting made of it? Comments, Please!!

Another Sad Tree Day

Yesterday was my son Allen's 21st birthday. He wants to go in the Marines. His dad an I are not happy about it. We tried to talk him into the Coast Guard, which has the best retirement AND does not get deployed. But he says only sissies go in the Coast Guard, he is a REAL man. Well I hope the marines will be good for him.

While Des and her babies were here, we got another big storm. As we watched from the front door, the storm took out what was left of the big pear tree we lost half of last month. Ironically the other half was surviving. See the black buckets thrown like dirtball people's yards, around on the ground UNDER the piece of broken tree? Those were the replacement apple and peach trees. I don't know yet if they will be alright.

Then as if that weren't enough, we also lost about 1/4 of the 3rd tree, which was also a nice healthy tree. You might believe me when I say, the wind was fierce. This was not lightning damage, just wind.

Note in this last pic... the center tree, which is skanky, has crown-spread and is about half dead, came away almost unscathed. Only a little damage high up where the other half of the first large tree hit it on the way down. Wouldn't ya know.

Artemas has been sleeping on the sofa at night, because its narrow confines keep him from turning over on his still-healing broken collarbone. Beverly, who LOVES her big brother, awoke about 2 AM. She stretched and hung out on her bed a minute, then came over to mine. She climbed up, slept 3 minutes, got back up, down off the bed, and went to the door. She said, "Armis!" and out she went. I went out into the great room to see where she went, and here she was, already back to sleep.

All our family shops are participating in the 4-day Etsy Yart Sale, through the 14th. Check our shops for new items... we have put up quite a few, including this gorgeous recycled, hand dyed Superwash batt which sold in 12 hours! And for Yart Sale specials!
My7kids Recycled Yarns
Heartfeltfun Accessory Boutique
Fluff4Ewe Handspun Yarns and Fiber
Rossoaps Handmade Goat or Soy Milk Soaps

I have been knitting a ball today. Ok, so I am not that fast. But I have a lotta kids underfoot and I was gone 3 hours running a futile errand. And made dinner, all that. So I need 2 of these black Merino balls and got one done. So sue me. LoL




This Evening B got into the stack of clean laundry and tried to put on some of my clothes. She informed her dad that this was for "Nurtsies!" Think it will be a while before I have to worry about sharing clothes with B. LoL!

Veronica Joy!

Veronica Joy is my 5th living child, born on the 5th day of the 5th month. She was the longest pregnancy I had carried so far, 39 weeks 2 days. She weighed in at a whopping 9 lbs. 8 oz. and had a 14 1/4" head. She was born at home, with big brothers and sisters and some friends in the living room, waiting for her.

What a pretty and happy baby too! She had curly, strawberry-blonde hair and peaches'n'cream skin and big brown eyes. Always smiling, always loving, always kind!

When she was 2, she had measles, very severely. The sustained high fever caused weak places to develop in her hair follicles and in the following weeks, her hair broke off all over. I gave her a "shag" haircut. When the hair grew back in, it was dishwater blonde and straight.

Veronica is a very intelligent girl! Besides doing her homeschool, she is artistic. She draws beautiful pictures, and she quilts, spins, and knits. She is learning to cook. She is very popular with babies, because she is soft, gentle, and cuddly.

Her name means "true image" (as in a mirror) and "joy," and I believe she is a True Image of the Joy that the Lord can place in our hearts when we love and trust Him! I know she is a true gift to us!

But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord. 2 Corinthians 3:18

Yesterday for her birthday, we went to Mayfield Dairy in Athens, TN. We all got to wear hairnets and walk through parts of the milk-processing plant, then enjoy fresh-made ice creams on their porch. It stopped raining long enough for us to do our "field trip" and started up again later on last night. LoL!


To the right here is Veronica with her ice cream.

To the left, all the kids (including niece Dana and grandkids) on the company's graven-image cow (LoL)

Veronica on the cow, Artemas with hair (and non-existent beard) protectors,

B licking an ice cream,

Artemas goofing off with a giant poster of a milk jug, and again acting very thirsty indeed. Can you tell he is the family clown?


Today Veronica got to use her first power tools ever! Richard and the kids are building some kind of something of the shelter out near the road, that we put the "bum" scarecrow in last fall. Richard is apparently giving Veronica some very important instructions about marking before cutting.



Beverly took up camera again, to give us a 2 yo's eye-view of one of the family vans. And not to be outdone, I took a picture of my clawfoot-tub garden.




I did NOT get the sock done. YET! 12 rows to go before I sleep.

I've Become The Horrible Quilter

Well, I did it. It's official. I have become The Horrible Quilter.

I was in this challenge swap, where each participant had to submit 2 colors they loved and one color they hated... choose a season that is their favorite, and a style of quilt they DISliked most (art, traditional, applique, etc). Then each person in the swap was assigned another (secret) person and notified of their choices above. We were to make a mini quilt (max. 24'"x 24" square) in ONE of their two favorite color choices and with a theme of their favorite season, and within a type of quilt category that wasn't what they didn't like. In other words, if the person I was assigned to loved green and winter and hated applique quilts, I could make a mini quilt in shades of green with a winter theme in any type of quilt besides applique. We had to mail the quilt off to this secret person NOT BEFORE Feb. 22 and not later than March 30.

So I got right busy and made a wonderful quilt in traditional blocks in a Fall theme in the base color Orange (or variations thereof, like brown being the darkest orange and pale yellow-orange being the lightest). I posted pics of the components on my blog before. I made a Tree of Life center, with setting corners of light oranges on top and earthy oranges at the bottom (like sunrise and dirt, LoL) in strip-pieces, and a bunch of Flying Geese to go up the left side and down the right. I finished all these components by about the first of February.

Since it was too early to mail, I put the quilt top away. And lost it.

Des tells me last week that it had to be mailed by Saturday. PANIC. I cleaned house, cleaned out stash drawers, pawed through piles of fabric and boxes of yarn and fiber (just in case). Never found it. So yesterday when everyone was here for Diantha's birthday party, Des helped me cut out squares for a Split 9 Patch. You make 9-patches and cut them in 1/4ths and reassemble them. I put the quilt together last night and quilted it this morning, with variegated thread. From the back, you can actually see the quilting pattern... which is Leaf shapes in the large dark areas, little football shapes in the small dark areas, and kind of wiggly pinwheels where 4 light strips meet. Not so bad!

From the front, it looks like a drunk put this together and quilted it with a treadle machine in the back of a dark alley. Gotta be the worst quilt I have ever made. I mailed it anyway. When I got in the computer to get the lady's address, I noticed that the mail date isn't til March 30. By then I could have found the original quilt top, or made something better. But I mailed it anyway. Now I am The Horrible Quilter. Wish I hadn't been required to sign my name.

On a little happier note, I got a main Treasury last night, actually obscenely early this morning, called Absinthe Makes the Heart Grow... fonder.Or is it more forgetful? which is doing pretty well in the FP race. To your left you will see a screen shot. Since I took this screen shot, I moved a couple alternates in, just for fun.

Mid-morning today, from my other shop, I got a Treasury West in honor of Diantha. It will expire on Wed., which is her 14th birthday. She loves orange and purple and avant-garde type items, and her name means "Flower of God," which is what I named this treasury. Here on the right is a screen-shot of it.

I didn't do a quilt block-a-day today, since sandwiching and quilting badly and binding and washing an entire quilt, even if it was only 24" x 24", was all I could take.

I did start a knitting project today, which I thought was going to be a set of fingerless mitts. As I cast it on, it decided to be something entirely different. I mean WAY off the different scale. Then when I got 4 rows knitted, I decided that it should be made differently than how I was going about it. Since I am not working with a pattern, and since I am already giving in a little to the insouciance of the yarn not wanting to be what I wanted it to be, I can be a Domiknitrix and make this yarn behave. (by the way, that's a great, if offbeat, knitting book. Click on it and you can get it at half.com for 3 bucks!)

Right after I rip out these 4 rows. Here is a sneak peek. And that is all you get (LoL).