Progress

On the center garden circle that is at Nana and Papa's. Here's a few pics 4ya with the liner in the pond and it partially filled. Laid out the patio too- it's coming along! Emily absolutely ADORES the stream...she played in it for hours while we worked.

You can a bigger version of the pic if you click on it:





The couple pics where it looks like just patchy lawn are actually of our Little Buddy...see him? Look close! It's our robin friend who stuck around all day flitting here and there and keeping a close eye on us. I think he appreciated Dad grating the lawn for the patio...unearthed quite a few worms I think. Hope he has more sense around Oreo- Ultimate Bird Killer. I found her around back later that evening with a mouthful of feathers...luckily Buddy was still there when I went to check. :)

A nice restful place...wonder if Dad hung his hammock? More importantly (if he did)- I wonder if he's actually laid down in it?! ;)

I'll do a separate post for the lower garden sometime here.

Strawberries

Mmm- strawberry jam! We were late picking this year so I haven't made as much. I'll be rationing it over the next 11.5mos or so :D We may try picking once more on Friday but I'm dubious as to what'll be left. I may pick up some raspberries though as consolation and make a batch of raspberry jam instead.

Yes- I realize a woman's rear end has been memorialized in our photo. This was the best of the lot...J zoomed in on us afterward which only served to magnify the background issue :)






E was a big help washing up the strawberries with me, hulling them. Squishing them up. Forgot to take pics of the finished product...trust me-it was good! Esp. on our homemade Big Daddy Biscuits! Yum!

Summer Dress and Suits

Mermaids. Of course :) From the Heather Ross Mendocino line- glad I got a few to play around with! Hope this fits her next year too- the waist is elasticized so it'd be the neck and length I'd have to worry about...I added a couple inches to the length in view of this so we shall see. It's a great pattern- perfect for hot summer days!




Fabric closeup:


These two suits I made from the same KS pattern as her last one. The chlorine from swim lessons really did a number on the fabric of her suit and it now resembles some old wrinkly tshirt that has lost it's color. Even the feel of it as the fabric has lost it's elasticity. Good thing I sew a front lining!








I added the ruffles to the pink suit and lowered the back neckline a smidge which I ended up not liking- I'll go back to the orig. for the next one. The blue I added a hole in the back for some variety. I tightened the leg elastic a smidge and put it in just about 1:1 in the front leaving the rest for the back to get it nice and snug. I love how it came out- as wedgie free as you can get in a little girl suit! Good thing as she hasn't quite learned how to adjust properly which I found out when she pulled the whole blue suit down- leaving her tush for all the world to see through the nice hole in the back! I've since explained :)

Sewing your own swimwear once you get past the fear of the fabric (not bad at all- much better than a rib knit!) is so worthwhile and cost effective. I can get 3 suits out of 1yd of fabric for E...and seeing as I got this nice CA fabric for $5/yd... They sew up fairly quick once you know what you're doing- I putzed with the elastic a bit but I tend to putz anyway. Just ask my mom :D

I'll include some b4 and after pics of her 'old' suit (a couple months old!) to show you the evils of chlorine. This is new to me- a suit wearing out so fast. We swam mostly in lakes and our own low-chlorine pool when we were young and would upon wearing a suit for a season or two pass it down to the next member of the family. Crazy! Now I know why sewers say the fabric will fail before the construction or elastic! The old suit is a lot more minty green and faded than the pics show...some of the dots have totally disappeared :P And I laid it out as nicely as the new suit- it looks wrinkly b/c that's how it wears now with the elasticity gone! This will be her bombing around suit :)




One last suit to go...and hopefully her terry coverup and I shall be done with her swim stuff for awhile. She'll take lessons again this fall but hopefully with 2 suits they'll make it through until next spring/summer. The other suit I'm sewing will be a 2pc frilly thing that's a bit impractical and showy for lessons. We'll see how it turns out :)

Pics of the 4th

Had another great 4th- the family came over for the parade...Alex had the awesome idea of the candy target...worked like a charm! Maybe too well for the hockey club :P E was feeling well enough throughout the day- we rested up a bit before going back for dinner at the fair, rides and fireworks.

J rode the bigger rides with E...he didn't fare so well on the lying down-flying one. See his smile at the beginning? See his pasty-nauseous face afterward?? Took him a couple of hours to regain himself...glad I didn't go! Oh- E was fine on it- she was laughing at J :)

A bday gift for a penpal

I meant to upload these pics awhile ago...but I've been having a bit of trouble with uploading pics from blogger. I've started doing it from picasa and pasting the links in.

This was sent out a couple weeks back- it was very well received and I'm glad! It's nice to make something for someone when they appreciate it so :) I'm sure she is beautiful in it- here it's modeled by E before sending it out. The bag is reversible- same pattern I used for E's awhile back. I'll be posting pics of E's dress later...hers is mermaids :)

Painted Ladies

All of our chrysalids 'hatched'...our first guy unfortunately came out before we had moved them and his wings didn't have a chance to grow. We call him Mr. Crumples...Fred is his first name. We've kept him- hill live out the remainder of his short life in our habitat feasting on sugar water carnations and melon.

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The other four we let go after a few days...one particularly feisty girl cut her wing flapping around in there.

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We were able to catch the very last one hatching- we woke Emily up and she was able to see it crawl out of the chrysalid and hang while growing it's wings. Took only a minute or two for them to straighten out...poor Crumples! The picture quality here is low...my camera hates indoor light and closeups. This sequence of pics show the guy just out of his shell and making his way up...see his wings straightening out? You'll also see in a pic or two a little black curly thing by his head...that is it's tongue which is like a straw that they sip nectar through. The red on the paper is the extra color from the wings of the other butterflies...they secrete any extra color after growing their wings.

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A few pics of them in the habitat...they sit with their wings closed, but once they open they are the pretty much the colors of a monarch- but smaller. Most are blurry as the habitat didn't like the flash and my camera cannot capture action as well without it :P

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