The trouble with photographing Etsy shop items...

...is that I don't always have a good model. For something like the quilts, I can rope in Mom or the backyard playground. But for baby headbands, I can't use either, so I use a TV tray. It works, but it's not as good for showing how the headband can be worn. I'd borrow a kid from church of my cousin's kids, but either they're too old or too far away. (Sara would probably gladly lend me her baby for a while...But I don't want to travel across the state and into another one for a five minute photograph session. It doesn't quite make sense.) So I'll keep using the TV tray until I find a baby the right age to borrow (and a parent willing to lend the kid).

the playground modeling the Creatures and Critters quilt

Mom modeling the raggedy flower quilt

the TV tray modeling the pink baby headband

Pretty, Happy, Funny, Real

Pretty

I generally spend my time making pretty stuff like this:

(And doing school and cleaning, but mostly in the summer I sew.)

Happy

Unrelated to sewing, the Lutheran online school I go to is going to do Matins, Vespers, and Compline on Wednesdays through the school year. I'm really happy about that. I try to do them on my own, but forget...a lot.

Funny

My super fancy quilt block storing system. (I also keep finished things in plastic Wal-Mart bags.) And the previous label is scratched out because I finished that quilt top.

Real

This is what the sewing room looks like after I've been in it.

But it gets cleaned up at the end of the day and messed up again the next. (Sometimes it looks worse.)

For more Pretty, Happy, Funny, Real posts go here: www.ourmothersdaughters.blogspot.com

Stitched in Color Mosaic Contest

I'm entering the Stitched in Color mosaic contest here: http://www.stitchedincolor.com/2013/07/clashy-bright-mosaic-contest.html.

Here're my mosaics.

1.

2.

Etsy Shop

Everything in the Etsy shop I either knit or sew all by myself. I make quilts, doll blankets, headbands, scarves, cat toys shaped like whales, and dishcloths right now, but am going to add more things soon. The point of the shop is to earn money for college. (Right now, I'm still spending all of my allowance every month of getting supplies to make stuff, but it might start earning money sometime.)

I use almost every part of the supplies I get. Extra yarn from dishcloths are turned into headbands and whale cat toys. Left-over yarn from scarves are turned into fringe for the scarf or yarn markers. Scraps of fabric that from quilts and doll blankets are used to make more quilts. Batting scraps are harder to use again because I have to sew the edges together and that leaves a big, clunky seam. Quilts, dishcloths, headbands, and whale cat toys are all made from cotton fabric or yarn. The cat toys are stuffed with polyfill and the quilt batting is polyester. Scarves are made from whatever yarn I like and can afford.

Doll blankets take the least amount of time to make (about forty-five minutes). The things that take the next-shortest amount of time to make are the headbands and cat toys. They take anywhere from 1-5 hours to knit. Dishcloths take about five hours to knit (15 hours for a set). Scarves come next and can take up to 50 hours to knit, depending on how hard the pattern is, how thick the yarn is, and how long I'm making them. Quilts vary. A machine quilted quilt normally takes about 100 hours to make, including washing, drying, and ironing the fabric before beginning then washing and drying the quilt after making. A handquilted quilt takes more like 300 to 500 hours to make, depending on how much quilting there is.

Summer School

I'm doing most of my school this summer in July. I'm doing marine biology, geography, Latin, Greek, math, and Classical Mythology. Most of the time, I'm going to do school on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. Math might over-lap sometimes. And I'm doing everything except math of my own accord. Mom would have me do the subjects anyway, so I might as well do them now.

Marine biology--Apologia's textbook. It's the last science credit I need in high school, so I'm getting it over with. (Science is better than math, but is still not as good as other stuff.) I'm doing most of the labs, all of the study guides, and the On Your Own Questions. There are 16 modules and I'm doing one module every day three days a week.
Geography--a Bob Jones University textbook. I'm ok on finding most countries (Africa is hard), but don't know much other than that. And I can already read a road map. But, I'm reading the textbook again (I read it a long time ago) and doing the review questions. There are 25 chapters and I'm doing two chapters every day.
Latin--Lingua Latina. Dad uses this book whenever he teaches Latin. We have somewhere around five copies floating around. (They're the old orange ones that have been replaced with brown. Shucks.) All of the books I have belonged to Lizzie and they have helpful notes written in the margins. I don't know how far we'll go this summer.
Greek--the Machen book. I'm re-reading it and practicing identifying words. There are 34 chapters and I'm doing two chapters every day.
math--Math-U-See with Justin. I do whatever Justin tells me to do in this.
Classical Mythology--lectures by Elizabeth Vandiver. I found them on sale from the Teaching Company and Dad had ten bonus bucks (or whatever the Teaching Company calls them). They costed about 25 dollars, which is really, really good for Teaching Company lectures. (Normally, they're somewhere in the hundreds.) I'm writing papers on Theogony, Hymn to Demeter, Roman myths and fables, the Eleusinian Mysteries, Ovid, and the Trojan War. I'm doing one paper a day, which I know I can do because I did it when I took Paideia and ProGymn at the same time.

Pretty, Happy, Funny, Real

Pretty

Grandma and Grandpa had their 55th anniversary this month, so they got Uncle Peter, Aunt Dawn, Dad, Mom, Lizzie, Justin, Arane, and me together all at the same time at their house. (It's harder than it sounds. Uncle Peter and Aunt dawn live way over on the west coast.) Lizzie made the collage and did the balloons and I did the banner. (Actually, I typed it, printed it out, and hole punched it, then Lizzie strung it up.) All that decorating was done in secret in the middle of the night.

Happy

Here are more pictures from the trip.

That green-pink-yellow-blue toy is either a walker or a thingy. You can press a button and turn it into a walker. Arane can use it when it's in walker form, but not when it's the thingy. She would run all over the place with it.

Funny

That's what stuff on the line looks like when it's not very windy. (That day really wasn't very windy. The patio table umbrella wasn't revolving like it sometimes does.)

Real

I have an Etsy shop here: http://www.etsy.com/shop/InglesideCreations?ref=si_shop. It's only got twelve things in it, but I have more stuff made and just need to photograph them. I've finished another scarf and am knitting some cat toys (made of out scraps from dishcloths). Also, I have three quilts being finished (two baby quilts and one lap).

Here are some pictures of things in the shop.

 Doll blanket (fits an 18-inch doll)

Dishcloth set (can survive going through the garbage disposal)

Scuffy the Tugboat wall-hanging (has metal D-rings on the back for hanging)

Go here for more Pretty, Happy, Funny, Real posts: www.ourmothersdaughters.blogspot.com

Pretty, Happy, Funny, Real

Pretty

I made these to sell on Etsy. (I'm going to set up a shop in late June.) Two are medium yellow and one is bright orange.

Happy

Arie has six teeth! And she can whoop like an Indian and looooooves bannanas. She's getting accomplished.

Real

I almost always manage to cook things that are edible and look like they will be when they're cooking. (Except for beans. Beans don't work, even when Lizzie helps me, and she's great with beans.)

But, a couple weeks ago, I spilled olive oil from baking potatoes in the oven and it smoked a ton. I sat down in front of the oven to make sure that if/when the oil did catch fire, I would see it and holler for Mom to come put it out. This is what the growlery looked like after the smoke detectors went off, windows opened, and the fan got turned on.

Go here for more Pretty, Happy, Funny, Real posts: www.ourmothersdaughters.blogspot.com

Yay! New Fabric!

I got my first charm-packs in the mail today. (And a template for Lizzie's quilt. I didn't need the template, but it'll make life easier.)

I'm saving them for a while, though.

Before using the charm-packs, I'm making myself finish quilting this:

And have to put borders on these two quilts:

And cut out Lizzie's quilt and finish piecing mine. (I'm making myself one for my bed because the one I have has been around since I was four and it's starting to run out of life.)

Also, I finished Dad's Christmas present from last year. (He got to unwrap it, but it wasn't nearly done. Mostly because I ran out of time and energy.)

Sewing, Knitting, Arane, and Rabbits

I finished Megan's quilt a while ago. It didn't take long to do, which is good because I finished it about five days before the shower.

Also, during the first lawn-mowing of the year, that little bunny hid in our garage. He ran in there when Dad opened the door. (Another one was hiding in a corner next to the house.) The rabbit stayed there for about five hours and was soooooo scared. His nose wasn't even moving for a while. (I'm glad he hid because splattered bunny isn't at all pleasant.)

I also translated today two sentences from Greek into English without looking up anything.

And Arane is learning about colors and things like that. (Lizzie does it by making piles of things in the same color. Like a pile of yellow stuff or a pile of orange stuff.) She (Arane; Lizzie's too big to play this) also plays with her baby doll and treats it like Lizzie and Justin treat Arane. (Like tucking her in and holding her.)

And Dad's quilt from last Christmas is almost done. I just need to put on the binding. (He did get it at Christmas, but it wasn't nearly finished.)

Here are the first two blocks of this quilt-a-long.

That one on the left took FOREVER. There was a ton of wailing and gnashing of teeth. But now I don't like the fabrics anymore. It's too busy. So I'm going to keep these, but find different fabric.

And I made a shawl in time for 80-degree weather. (Mom's holding it up.) Aunt Susan gave me the yarn and I made up the pattern. It's reaaaaally big and warm.

Also, I finally have all of the fabric for Lizzie's quilt. It's going to be a tumbler quilt in mostly-brown and some blue. All that I need now before starting is the template (from here).

(I also got these two packs of fabric while ordering the template. Because I'm tired of doing flowers and butterflies and pinkness in quilts. Sometimes I need a dump truck and kites and stuff like that. And those are the first precut fabric I've ever gotten other than individual fat-quarters. Which doesn't really count because they weren't in a bundle.) 

Random facts

I know a lot of weird and random stuff and have no idea where it came from most of the time. So here's a list of some of them.

1. William the Conqueror exploded and the cathedral caught on fire during his funeral.
2. It's impossible to teach all the way around an elbow with one hand.
3. Aeschylus died by an eagle dropping a turtle on his head. (The eagle thought Aeschylus was a stone good for breaking turtles open with.)
4. Christians used to be accused of cannibalism because of Communion.
5. It's possible to put fire out with blood.
6. The city of Bath is named that because of the baths the Romans put in.
7. A lot of European roads come from the Romans.
8. Agamemnon's Death Mask was found in a place other than where Agamemnon was buried and in the wrong type of grave.
9. Jean-Baptiste Lully died by stabbing himself in the foot with his conducting staff. He got gangrene and died.
10. Jack Daniel (the whiskey guy) died because he couldn't remember the combination to his safe. So he kicked the safe, got gangrene in his big toe, and died.
11. Robert Clary was in a concentration camp when he was a kid. He always wears long sleeves in Hogan's Heroes to hide the number tattooed on his arm.
12. John Banner was a Jew who escaped Germany during World War II.
13. The man that played Burkhalter was in a concentration camp and the scar on his face is from there.
14. The Eifel Tower was used as a Gestapo interrogation center in World War II.
15. The Allies won the war because Hitler had a migraine on D-Day and didn't want to be disturbed for any reason.
16. Julius Caesar stabbed one of his attackers with a stylus before dying.
17. There was one Roman emperor who was emperor for one day before being assassinated.
18. The Vikings sailed as far east as Turkey.
19. Jericho is one of the oldest, still inhabited cities.
20. Tea wasn't brought into England until the Stuart era.
21. Anglo-Saxons would bring a little kid with them when they were doing business with each other. When they were done with the business, the little kid would be smacked so he'd remember the day.
22. The English monarchs from William the Conquer to now are in this order: William, William, Henry, Steven, Henrey, Richard, John, Henry, Edward, Edward, Edward, Richard, Henry, Henry, Henry, Edward, Edward, Richard, Mary, Elizabeth, James, Charles, (Cromwell killed Charles and took over, but wasn't king), Charles, James, Mary and William, Anne Gloria, George, George, George, George, William, Victoria, Edward, George, Edward, George, Elizabeth.
23. "IVLIVS" is not pronounced "Iv-liv-z". It's "Ewe-li-us." 
24. Machen's Greek teacher would take notes in Greek during the sermon if the sermon got boring.
25. Edgar Allen Poe is distantly related. (He's a third cousin of an uncle or something like that.)
26. The Black Death didn't reach some parts of Scotland.
27. Live bacteria have been found in the bodies of dead Arctic explorers.
28. The phrase "Hocus pocus" comes from the Latin Communion service.
29. The song "Do the Hokey Pokey" also comes from the Latin Communion service. "Put your left leg in and out" means going up and down from the altar. "Turn it all about" means turning around and holding up the elements after the consecretion." I forget the rest.)
30. "The Twelve Days of Christmas" are code for Roman Catholic doctrines. ("A partridge in a pear tree" is Jesus on the cross. "Twelve lord's a leaping" are the apostles. "Two calling birds" are the two natures of Jesus. "Three French Hens" are the parts of the Trinity. I forget the other parts.)
31. Seven Brides for Seven Brothers come from the account of the Sabine women written by Herodotus.
32. Pontius Pilate was kinda driven into a corner when he had to deal with Jesus because he REALLY didn't want to cause a revolt. And he was looking forward to retiring pretty soon and a revolt would complicate it.
33. Most of the animals extinct in Africa come from the gladiator shows. The gladiators would fight so many animals and so many more had to be imported that Africa kinda ran out.
34. Green peppers with three bumps are male. If they have four bumps, they're female.
35. There weren't any cats in Britain until the Roman invasion.
36. Martin Luther would spend longer than most people in the confessional confessing his sins because he kept thinking of more things he'd done wrong.
37. There's a prophecy that if the ravens leave the Tower of London, England will fall. So during World War II, the ravens were watched over really carefully in case they got hit by bombs. 
38. Hitler and Napolean were born 132 years apart, came into power 132 years apart, and died 132 years apart. (They were also both corporals.)
39. St. John was released off of Patmos (a prison colony where people were sent for life) because the emperor didn't want to deal with all the trouble the four previous emperors caused. So he released everybody.
40. On St. Patrick's Day, if you're wearing green or black, you shouldn't be pinched because those are the colors of Ireland. But orange is the color of England, so go pinch those people. It came about because of the many kerfuffles between Ireland and England.
41. Aristophanes made fun of Socrates all the time and it worked so well because they were friends.
42. The Battle of Agincourt was won because of a rain storm. The mud stopped the French horses from advancing as well and the British, who had no horses, were able to move faster.

About tornadoes...

A tornado watch is when there are high winds, thick rains, and cold air moving downwards.

A tornado warning is when there are clouds looking suspiciously funnel-y shaped, but might not be.

A tornado is when said suspicious clouds swirl round and round until they come down to earth in a funnel and blow away big stuff, like houses and cows and trees.

People should not blow the tornado siren for a tornado watch, nor should they report a tornado watch as a a tornado warning. Gee wulikers.

(One website said it was a watch and some said it was a warning. I think it's a thunderstorm going on and off because the rain just stopped and it's not thundering and lighteninging much and the wind is still. I think some weather people are too vague.)

Easter and Arie

Here're pictures from Easter day:

We had breakfast and the little kids found Easter eggs. (They were hidden in the fellowship hall, not the sanctuary.)

(Dad heard of some school somewhere calling Easter eggs "spring spheres." The crazy teachers! Everybody knows Easter eggs aren't spheres! And calling them something else doesn't change that everybody knows what Easter eggs are. :P )

(All these pictures in this post are taken by Mom, by the way. I was busy.)

The altar was pretty. I think it looks naked on Good Friday because it's bare of everything. The big cross doesn't come off the wall so it's draped with a black cloth. The altar stays like it does in that picture until the Easter season is over. (Unless the lilies die. Then there are other flowers up there.)

(That's why I was busy. One cannot hold a flame-thrower and take pictures at the same time.)

They practiced once before Easter and did a really good job.

Reading the Bible. (Because if he was preaching, he'd be on the other side of the altar.)

That thing that looks like a speaker is called a cajon.

Also, these pictures are taken by Mom because she and Dad had to go to a boring old regional conference. On the way there and back they visited Lizzie and Justin for a while. And I stayed all by myself at home without any major accidents. Like explosions or exploding cats. (I was there alone for about five days and began to really not understand what the big deal about housekeeping taking forever is. Because I did clean, do laundry, wash dishes, and scrubbed the floors. It didn't take THAT long.)

She got that for Christmas and loooooves it.

(Both Lizzie and Arane have had their respective heads of hair looking that way ever since I can remember. Arane's is goofy and Lizzie's is pretty. :P )

That fuzzy thing is her kitty. (She says a "kkkkk" noise at all animals to say that they're kitties.)

And she can walk-ish now.

(That was at the local museum. I don't think Lizzie would let a whatchacallit like that yellow-blue-green do-dad in the background into her house.)