Little Stinkers

Todd was out taking care of our chickens when along came a momma skunk and her 6 babies!  Notice the tails sticking up in the top photo.

Aubry's Amazing Horse Costume

This is one amazing little girl, let me tell you! 

She made this costume herself except for the fur on the legs. 

(I made those under her direction.) 

 

       
              Aubry and her little friend had been planning and practicing their walking and riding.

This picture was from our Trunk or Treat night.

Aubry was the perfect accessory.

Retreat Projects

Aubry and I went on a sewing retreat recently and OH what fun we had!  I am ashamed to say I took 3 bags of fabric to work on. (oh my stash...)  BUT I came back with only 2!  I was very productive and here are my goodies from that weekend and a couple others.

This coat is a pattern from the book Sew Serendipity.  I'm VERY pleased with how it turned out.  I did tweak the collar to be this shape but it was easy to do.

This tee was an idea I found on Pinterest and I loved the idea.  I picked the word "unique" because as I was growing up, my mom encouraged me to be unique....be my own person, not try to be someone else.

 

This linen jacket is an OLD Vogue pattern from the 80's that I have hung on to all these years.  I finally just decided to make it.  I'm very pleased with it and I'm sure I will wear it to rags.

A simple linen shell.

Those are antler buttons I used. 

Back view. 

 See little Copper scratching over there?  She's one of our sweet chickens.

I found these handles at The Sewing Station in Brentwood where I bought my Bernina.  I can't wait to make more bags to go on these handles.

An apron....that I will never wear as an apron.  HA

I plan to wear it with leggings.

I have fallen in love with peasant tops.  Notice the pocket detail. 

 It took a little thinkin' to put this one together.

 

Aubry's pretties will be in another post.  I have to get all of her goodies together and shoot them. She made horse tack for her Breyer horses.  She also did some needle felting.  I'll get those on here soon.

Around the House

I do not pretend to be a professional photographer so I don't "stage" my subjects as well as I should.

But I do enjoy sharing things we've done so just try to ignore the staging mistakes.  he he

I looked through my posts and noticed I hadn't posted any pictures of the finished pool!

We had a rather mild summer this year so we didn't get in it as much as we had hoped.

Todd and Logan did the landscaping back in May. 

I think it looks so nice.

This is Aubry's "barn bed" that we created back in the spring.  Again, I just snapped the shot without staging.  I just wanted to share the idea.

This is what the windows look like when they are down.

We close the gate every night too.  It's part of the bedtime ritual.

Aubry's Hope Chest

It was about 2 years ago when a storm blew through and knocked down a huge oak tree in our back woods.  It was a massive tree.  Our neighbor is an extremely talented woodworker and I asked him if he could make Aubry an old fashioned hope chest from the wood.  He was glad to do it.  (He had spied the downed tree and wanted the wood.)  I showed him a picture of a style I liked and gave him dimension.  THIS is the end product.  Isn't it beautiful?  What a wonderful little treasure for my sweet girl.  As you can see, we've already started filling it with items for her future.

Look at the dovetail detail!  Gorgeous!

And the leg shape! 

What a precious heirloom.

And just a side note....I asked Logan if he wanted anything made from the tree, but he didn't.

Embroidered Linens

I go through spells where I just have no creative juices and it makes me rather blue when I hit these times.  Often times after I have a spell like this, though, I get a big idea...something unusual.  Well, this is the result of one of those such times.  I made myself a skirt using old embroidered linens that I've had hanging about for years.  I haven't worn it yet, but I think just a simple white tee would be nice.

Lots of Rain

We had a lot of rain last week.  It got the best of this Osage Orange.  The ground was so soft the tree simply fell over into the road and blocked traffic for a little while.

A Card For a Friend

We go to church camp every summer and there is a wonderful lady there who is our nurse every year.  This year she wasn't there and we all missed her very much.  She is dealing with a serious health problem, so I made her this card after we got home.  Aubry made the magical pegasus.  I used my die cutter to cut the pieces and I think it turned out cute.

Sugar's Baby

 

Our neighbor called yesterday with a birth announcment.

The horse Aubry rides had her baby

Babies are so precious.

They're still deciding on a name.

Latest Additions

Preening time!

 

Meet our new babies, Copper, Chihiro, and Koshi.

Koshi is a Blue Cochin.

Chihiro is a Silver Gray Dorking

Copper is a fisty one.  She loves to perch on our shoulders.  She is a Speckled Sussex.

Button and Zoe are still adjusting to the new arrivals.  They aren't too crazy about sharing their coop with the little runts.  It has been a process getting everyone together and it is still in the works.

Then there was VBS with a space/Star Trek theme.  I am in charge of the craft area.  Here are a couple of  the ones the kids made.

 

 

 "We must pay careful attention to what we have heard so we do not drift away from God."  This is a verse we found in Hebrews after Aubry said we needed to put something on here about not drifting away from God.  The astronaut is attached with a pipe cleaner and it looks like he's on a space walk from the space shuttle.

"We are no longer foreigners and aliens....

 but children of God."  We took pictures of each of the kids and used their faces on this picture showing that they are on of God's children.

My girlfriend, Steph, came for a little visit last week and one of our projects was a script scarf.  This is mine completed. 

We also made these cute little cuffs.

This is Aubry's sewing station.  I found the cabinet at an auction for $10.  She loves being able to sew beside me.

My sweet Logan....

And my little forest guardian....