Crafting On...

Crafting- 

Terrible pictures of my newest project- but I figure, I'll have a chance to get better pictures of it in action.

I was given more fabric recently, which made me sort through stashes to consolidate for space and while doing so, I came across leftover fabric from a capelet I made last year for my niece.  It's been sitting around long enough and was enough to make another small one.  I decided it would be a good birthday present for Ineke.

I made it reversible using a colorful contrasting flannel that I already had on hand-with some trim that was given to me.  The problem is that her birthday is in late December- when the cold warrants a bonafide coat.  The weather is *just right* for a capelet now.  What to do...what to do...

While sorting fabrics and wondering what I should do/make to dwindle the fabric stores down, the mending basket sat staring belligerently at me from the corner, willing me to not start anything new until I lightened his load.   So I've been chipping away at that a little bit each week and I'm happy to say, I am almost all caught up.  Does that count as crafting?  I don't know.  But it is pretty satisfying.  I know that.

Adele's birthday is coming up.  Then Ineke's.  I thought about making some matching duds for Thanksgiving.  There is craft show the weekend after Thanksgiving that I could work on stuff for.  Then Christmas gifts.  The list of ideas is so long, it will probably cancel itself out under the time pressures and nothing will get done at all.  That's how I roll.  I am not sure what to do next and so, I do nothing!

Books~ 

For Halloween and for pleasure, I picked up Mary Shelley's Frankenstein- which I had never read but am really enjoying.  When I am not in the mood for Frankenstein, I pick up A Grief Observed by C.S.Lewis.   Harry Potter on audiobook for long car rides (pretty much every ride) and The Green Ember during lunch.  So you see, no matter where or when, there is SOME book waiting in the wings.  But they are all at the tail end of things- so it won't be long before I am wondering what to READ next too.

Crafting On...

The Month That Was: October

October, swampy, muddy, soaking mess; the capstone to a wet and mucky summer after a wet and swampy spring.  The yard splatters with each step, brown and splotchy.  All is rot.  The ground soaks and the mud pulls you down, down, down in the muck.

Outside, very much like my insides.  I struggle with the muck, struggle to get free, but I'm pulled down and down.

These last few months have felt like years.  Three months.  Only three months?  I haven't breathed in three months.  My eyes flutter, I blink.  Time to make supper.  My eyes flutter, I blink.  Ineke asks for a story.

 I've been quiet here because how can you put despair into words?  The story continues but the next chapter never comes- just the perpetual last paragraph- the cliffhanger.  The angst.  The questions that pull at me- the worry- the wonder of it all.   Was it the fruit that tempted Eve or the knowledge of God?  I am Eve but it is no apple I crave.  I want the knowledge of God- I want to understand how He thinks.  What His plan is.  I want to know what comes next.  I want to know WHY He does what He does and allows what He allows and doesn't allow what He doesn't. 

But I am a dog under the table, eating crumbs. 

I know that God sees the big picture and I cannot understand it (and shouldn't expect to) and that everything is for His glory and my good.  I know that in my head.  I keep telling myself that over and over.  It is like C.S.Lewis in A Grief Observed- "Feelings and feelings and feelings.  Let me try thinking instead." 

I listened to this sermon and it took my breath away.  And then I listened again.  And again.  The best sermon I've heard.  Ever.  Thank you, God, for that sermon. 

The one thing I took away from that sermon- remember who God is.  Remember how God works.  And so I try to remember that God works in a way that is OPPOSITE of what we would often say.  He often tears down/divides/breaks apart things not to destroy/tear down/break apart but so that He can make something MORE glorious.  He moves from darkness to light, from glory to MORE glory.  He says to Gideon- "I don't want your 33,000 soldiers- I only want these 300" and we think WHAT?!?!  WHY would He do that!?!  But for His Glory.  He creates the world and calls it good and then goes ahead and divides it up again.  WHY?!  Didn't You just say it was good?  Why do you have to go messing with it again?  To make it better- to make it MORE glorious.  He makes a man in His image and then He breaks him open and we think- WHY are you breaking that perfectly good man?   And then we see His glory as woman is formed.   He moves from good to better- that is His way. 

So I keep saying the truth out loud- I keep preaching to myself while I wait for my heart to mend.  To quiet the emotions that scream inside me. This story.  Their story, my story doesn't need to make sense to me...I just need to remember His nature is to make MORE glorious.  And I have to trust that.

I'm failing pretty miserably, but I'm working on it.

Meanwhile- I need to BLINK my life back into focus.  I need to stop losing myself in my thoughts and worries.  I need to be present and accountable for what He has given me right now, right in front of me before I can possibly ask for more. 

To that end (and this sounds silly, I know), I am going to make it an effort to blog more.  Maybe even daily.  That would be a change (but don't quote me on it)!  Maybe until Thanksgiving?  There is much to be thankful for and so much of it is right in front of my face.  May I have the eyes to see and ears to hear.

I need to decide to see what is right in front of me and there is nothing more encouraging in that regard than a camera- whose pinprick of light can help bring life sharply into focus. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Pictured:

~ Our wood supply awaits
~ Ruby's puppies grow and are sold and the farm is silent of darling puppy antics and sounds
~ Andrew gets braces and a "braced" friend carves him a pumpkin to celebrate
~ We harvest and eat the last of the beautiful tomatoes
~ With a few batches to can, to boot!
~ Hayrides with Grandma and Grandpa
~ Pumpkin farm traditions with Nanny and Auntie Beth
~ an emptying canning cupboard- and I did almost nothing to restock it this year
~ a chalkboard that speaks to me
~ cabbage and squash and candlelight suppers
~ a goat boy
~ bouquets of homegrown flowers that far surpass flower shops

Halloween 2018

Have you ever heard of the Rise of the Guardians?

William Joyce began it all with a few books and then a movie and all of a sudden, Newman children were fanatics.  Some more than others. cough, cough Corynn!

Basically, Jack Frost, Santa, the Toothfairy, the Sandman, the Easter bunny and the elves all have to save the world from the wicked Boogieman named Pitch Black.

Well, it just so happens we have enough characters in our family to cover the characters in the movie so this year was a family theme.  (My favorite!)

Ineke made a nice little elf, far cuter than the real deal.  But you just can't cover cuteness up, no matter how hard you might try.

I made her hat using this pattern and leftover stash yarn- which I ran out of and had to use the closest red yarn I had to finish it- which wasn't perfect but not disastrous, either.  You can totally tell....but I have a goal of using up a basket full of yarn and that wouldn't happen if I went out and bought more yarn for a perfect match!  And besides, I try to make the costuming as cheap as possible.

Ears were made from felt and Adele had a perfect jingle bell- all of which were only temporarily attached so that "little girl Ineke" can wear it all winter.  I did have to fanangle the neck to have button closures because her big 'ole head could barely squeeze through the neck opening.  After I finally finished the hat after weeks of working on it here and there, I barely squished it over her head and she said very matter-of-factly, "I don't like it Mama."

Fixing the neck to have buttons helped her change her mind but the jingle bell and ears sealed the deal.  She loved it after that.

I made her dress using this tutorial and some handmedown fabric.  I made it so it could be worn as a normal dress.  The original dress is made of stretchy fleece and this fabric was not stretchy so I had to add buttons to the back to get her head to go through.  (She has big brains.)

Total cost = about $.50 for a scrap of clearance ribbon and a buckle.

Adele' was Toothiana, the Toothfairy: 

The dress was serendipitously handed down just a week or two before Halloween.  Painted with paints we had on hand- from finger paints to acrylic.  Feathers we mostly had on hand (I did buy a small bag of hard straight primary color ones).  Tulle strips and felt feathers for tail.  Floral wire bent into wings and covered with shiny fabric (also on hand) and last years' genie makeup finished her up.

Total cost = about $2.00 for bag of feathers, tulle and felt

 Judah, Sandy the Sandman: 

Unfortunately, I hadn't stashed any golden handmedown fabric over the years.  Salvation Army and the church choir who was getting rid of all their choir robes, to the rescue!  I cut off the bottom and made a poofy neckline and added a golden scarf (also at Salvation Army).  I couldn't believe how wonderfully easy that costume was thanks to the choir robe!  A bit of tulle left over from Adele's costume for his dream dust and some golden hairspray and face glitter... Judah's favorite part of the costume was definitely the hair!

Total cost = a bit under $5.00 for $3.00 robe and a can of hairspray

Matt, the Bad Boy Santa Claus:

More handmedown fabric (It helps having friends who sew.  It helps, also, to be a bit of a hoarder.) made Matt's robe.  Stash yarn for the beard.  I used the Viking Beard pattern which will probably be revisited next year as Judah wants to be a Viking.  Amiable fellow with the twinkly eyes- one in a million.

Total cost: about $2.00 worth of black fuzzy fabric from Walmart for hat and robe trimming.

Andrew as Pitch Black, the Boogeyman:

Andrew made a perfect villian.  Try not to have him haunt your dreams!

Last years' Zorro costume already in the costume bin!  Wa-hoo!  Nightmare staff- a stick from the woods and some cardboard- free.  His costume costs were only hairspray and face paint- about $3.00

 Not having to cut the boys' hair for two months so they could do cool hairstyles on Halloween - pretty stinkin' awesome.

Corynn as Jack Frost:

(or as some neighbors guessed- the Grim Reaper?!?!?!?!)

You know what is so awesome about Corynn's costume?  I didn't do a single bit of it!  Corynn did it all!!  Frosts' hook- stick from woods, some wire and duct tape.  Hoodie with glitter and fabric paint.  Black pants.  Her biggest disappointment was the white hairspray.  She came in, desperate "I don't look like Jack Frost!  I look like a Granny!"  Another coat made it look a bit more frosty.  Jack Frost?  Frosty?  It worked.

We got her Hoodie and pants at Salvation Army and the hairspray at Walmart, total cost around $4.00

** If only this Guardian knew that the evil Pitch was overtaking a poor little elf right behind her!**

Mama as the Easter Bunny :

(NOT an alien- as my nephew David thought.)

 Mine was probably the most expensive costume.  Not a bit of fur in my stash anywhere so I had to purchase it.  I about had a heart attack when I saw that Joann's was selling some furs for $40.00 a yard!  Whaaaat?!?!  Do people spend that sort of money?!  I got the cheapest gray I could find, used a 40% off coupon and only got a 1/3 of a yard.  I also got gray boots and pants and Salvation Army. A scrap of faux leather for the egg grenade belt and the wristbands (also with a coupon). Easter eggs leftover from Easter.  (Am I the only one who saves them to reuse?!)  I stole some of Andrew and Corynn's makeup.  Ears made with floral wire and a headband which I also had to buy because the skinny headbands the girls have weren't rugged enough to support such.... extravagant ears.  Yeah, extravagant...that's a nice way to put it.  Let's just say, I had to duck to walk in doorways.

Total cost: about $8.00.  Not super impressive- though I got a pair of boots and jeans out of the deal.

All in all, had it not been for having to buy so many different color hairsprays and the fur, it would have been a super cheap year!

And here we all are:

Er...  Oooops.....  

I mean HERE we are all are:

Crafting and Yarning along with her and her... though now that I don't have costuming to do, I am not sure what project to pick up next!

Reading:  Frankenstein by Mary Shelley.