Isn't it cool? I put it in a quart canning jar, and then Caleb found the bug habitat, so that we can show Calvin when he gets home from gymnastics.
Connor thinks it's pretty neat. "See bug!" he keeps saying. Caleb is going to search online to find out more about what they eat. Maybe we'll keep it for a few days. :)
I made the bunk beds up again, and last night Connor slept on the bottom! All. By. Himself! Bedtime was 9:00, he nursed a bit and went to sleep. He cried out a bit around 1:30, I went to check on him, he nursed a bit more, and then went right back to sleep. He got up around 6:00, came into my bed and snuggled a bit.
Calvin started gymnastics camp today. He did it last year and just loved it (it's become his birthday present from my mom). They do gymnastics in the morning, and then various activities in the afternoon, after lunch (walk to Dairy Queen, swimming, obstacle courses, etc). This helps him not miss his big brother so much.
The camp is at the highschool, just a few blocks from our house, so we walk. Lately he's been wearing this cape everywhere, since he's Stupendous Man. :) I just love it, and yesterday, when some kids yelled that it wasn't Halloween yet, he yelled back that he knew that, he was just dressed up anyway. Then he said they probably weren't allowed to dress up in public, and too bad for them. We went to the library like this today too.
I'm down to two kidlets at home -- Caleb left for Camp Dry Gulch early early early (4:00 am) this morning. Even though I had to wake him at 2:00 to get ready, he was quite excited.
Calvin did not want him to go, though. He will miss him quite a bit (nevermind the fact that they argue half the time!). Next year they will be going together, since Calvin will be old enough.
There's the bus, ready for takeoff! I know all the kids are going to have a fantastic time, and hopefully won't get too hot. We'll see Caleb on Thursday night! My plan is to surprise him with switched bedrooms. The countdown begins!
Turns out I placed third with my Amy Butler Nappy Bag! My friend Beth saw it, and was admiring it, and also thinking it looked familiar. :) Then she realized it had my name on it! That was a nice surprise. This means I placed with both of my entries this year.
Here's my pink tweed jacket on display. (photo courtesy of Calvin) I had a fun time going through all the display cases. So many beautiful things. I snapped some photos of the quilts for inspiration. I recognized a few names, and congratulations to Kathy and Ceil for their ribbons.
We ate our way from one end of the fair to the other (all you can eat pancakes, fried cheese, butterfly pork sandwiches, baked potatoes, maple sugar cotton candy, and drinks) and ended our day with cream puffs. We also saw a few animals, and Calvin got to watch a pig give birth to piglets in the birthing barn. We also had just missed the birth of a cow, but saw the mama licking her calf clean, and saw it stand up for the first time.
What a darling shop! The ladies there were so friendly and helpful, and were busy offering everyone lemonade, as the air conditioning wasn't working very well. I had brought the pinwheel blocks for advice, and they recommended that I use a coordinating blue to replace the koi print for the half-square triangles in the pinwheels.
I found this fantastic koi print (yes, another koi print. I told you, I love asian prints, especially koi). I will either do a skirt, or just throw some borders on it and have a whole cloth quilt. Maybe an AB Swing Bag too. I have 2 yards.
This little packet of fat quarters was too cute to pass up. Only $12 too! I also picked up a new book: Positively Pineapple. I have always loved pineapple quilts, but I just loathe paper piecing, so I've never made one. This book uses the Pineapple Rule, and there happened to be a class on this exact book going on, so I got to see it in action! Of course, I ordered one.
We all had a lovely day yesterday. The boys are staying up there until tomorrow, when we go to the State Fair, and I'll get to see if I won anything.
We've been having another heat wave (it's supposed to break tomorrow, I think). Anyway, it's HOT in the house; and we decided to sleep in the basement last night. David brought down three matresses, and we had a slumber party! We talked a lot before bed, watched some TV (Wife Swap and SuperNanny -- two shows which I've seen only once or twice before, and are pretty fascinating in a car crash kind of way), and slept great!
I think we'll sleep down here tonight too. Since we've been hanging out down here, the dog comes down too (she usually likes to be wherever I am), and stays cool.
Here is the pinwheel quilt so far. I did most of this on Thursday. The plan is 5 blocks across, 7 blocks down, with a few pinwheels going into the borders. Blocks are 9" finished, and the border will be 6" finished. 
First we look at all the plants and pick the ripest one.
He used a knife to cut it out, and was very careful.
Isn't it just gorgeous? I thought I had a great picture of him eating it, but it turned out blurry. While eating, he said, "Broccoli isn't gross, this broccoli is GREAT!". :)
Calvin's watermelon plant is finally growing! The other plant isn't growing at all, but this one is, and I hope we get melons before it gets too cold.
First, my 1945 Nancy Erickson jacket! YES! Finished after languishing for eighteen months! This is going into the Tailored Jacket category. I lost another 10 pounds after fitting the muslins, and so I think it's a titch big. I used a size 8 in the shoulders, went out to a 10 in the hips, and did a small FBA. Over on Stitcher's Guild and on NMSL I asked opinions on how many buttons (3 vs. 4), and you can see I decided on 4 (consensus was about 50/50 on how many). I have just under a yard of this leftover, with a piece cut off one selvedge, so I hope to squeeze out a little skirt. I have some fantastic pink slingbacks to wear with it, and I think it'll look great with a skirt or jeans. I'll take more detail shots and write a review when I get it back.
I also finished Nappy Bag #4. This one is for me! I love the ginko leaves. This one is going into the Tote Bag category. I had also planned to enter my recent skirt along with a top in the Two Piece Sport Outfit category, but didn't even get the top started. My last entry was going to be a La Fred Europa blouse. It's been hanging in my closet for years, lacking only sleeve hems and buttons/buttonholes. I drag my feet on it because I've lost 20 pounds since I made it, so I won't even be able to wear the darn thing when I finish it.
My husband designed the pullover, inspired by Dale of Norway, another company that I can't remember (Sondre?), along with Celtic influences. He drew it out, and I made a pattern, starting with a Vogue Sport jacket pattern and changing it. A lot. 
I used UltraSuede for the welt pockets, and put zippers in them. The pocket is a kangaroo style, meaning if you put your hands in the pockets, they can touch each other. Everything was done by machine.
The clasps were purchased at a local knit shop, and I put welting in the seams. I mitered every corner, and broke a few needles, as it got pretty thick in places!
He used to wear it quite a bit, and I wish I would have used real suede instead of the UltraSuede. I think real suede would've held up better? 
The back view. I put welting in the sleeve seams too. The jacket is made from a gray wool boucle, striped wool flannel, and is interlined with Thinsulate (I don't remember which weight). It's really hot.
I bagged the lining (Hang Loose), though I could not figure out how to stitch the little section across the bottom of the placket, so I did those few inches by hand. 
He wore this on a ski trip to Colorado in 1995, and someone commented on it. Turns out he was some sort of ski celebrity, so David had him sign the lining. It's faded, but it did say "nice piece, Linda -- Scott Schimdt '95". 
Here is the Swing Bag I made for my friend Beth. I bought the pink lining specifically with her in mind, probably about 3-4 years ago. I was stuck on what to do with it, though, and one day she saw the b/w dots lying in my sewing room (scraps leftover from this bag), and viola! I knew what to make! She loved the bag, btw. I really need to make one for myself, it's such a nice size. 
Here is the pinwheel block for the next baby quilt. See my error? The entire complete pinwheel block needs to be 3" finished. I had figured on making the half square triangles 3" finished. OOPS! :) Now that I've corrected my error, I should be able to get this put together pretty quickly. I don't have anything specific in mind for the back yet.
I finished this Nappy Bag yesterday. It is #3 in the stack of bags that I cut in January. It went together so fast because I had already basted the canvas underlining and had fused the pockets. All I had to do was SEW! This bag is for my friend Jessica. She and her husband Luther had a baby GIRL on Sunday. WHOO HOO! A GIRL!! We'll be going to visit them next week.
Of course, no Nappy Bag is complete for gift-giving until there are a few goodies inside. My mother and I put together a few things: a 1940's baby dress, a handmade bonnet (I don't know how old this is), some pretty lotions, and some baby toiletries. I also have a Weleda Baby Care kit to put in, along with a picture frame. If I find some pretty notecards by next week, I'll put some of those in too.
I took this picture just because they are pretty. :) This is just outside the kitchen window, opposite the iris.
My tomatoes and broccoli are very happy! I have three tomato plants this year: a cherry tomato, roma tomato, and regular one. I put a rain barrel nearby, so I've been mostly watering them with rain water. The watermelons (not pictured) are not so happy, and I'm not sure we'll get any fruit.
My latest big project has been the side of the garage. There were some daylilies (but not the pretty yellow ones like above, the plain orange ones) and some weeds here, and they were covering up the walkway (click here to see). I ripped everything out, and have slowly been putting in new plants. Right now there are a few varieties of iris, and other periennials that I can't remember the names of (pestimum is one, I think, and I'm sure I've spelled it wrong). I'd like to get some trellises and put clematis on the outsides of the windows, and a climbing rose or something else between the windows. Yesterday I laid the cocoa hull mulch.
We got up pretty close, and we could feel the explosions! Tuesday we went down to the beach across the street and watched the village fireworks display. This time we were farther away, so they weren't as loud, but still they were beautiful. This morning Connor asked to see more boom-lights. :)
and so I planted, watered, and cleaned off the back patio. Connor likes to help with the watering, as you can see. That's one of my rain barrels, and since I put them in, I haven't had to use the hose to water the garden, I've been able to use only rain water.
The boys had their first 'offical' lemonade stand today. It's been hot and muggy all day, and around 2:00 Calvin asked if they could have a lemonade stand. Of course! I quickly made a double batch and put it in one of the coolers, and they quickly made some signs. Caleb also got out his snow cone maker and decided they would be a 'limited time only' type of thing. :) Get this -- they made over FIFTEEN dollars!!!
According to the size chart and my measurements, I should have made a 16 (30" waist, 40" hips). After some flat pattern measuring, I felt that was a bit big, so I cut a 14 instead. The front and back are the same piece, and then the waistband, so cutting and sewing were really fast. Once I got the skirt together and wore it for a while, I felt the 14 was still too big. Last night I cut it down to a 12, which you see pictured here. Click here to see the 14 on me. The 12 is 2" smaller than the 14, and I am much happier with it.
Yeah, I can whip out a skirt like this in an hour or so, and it'll look nice and be quite wearable, but isn't it so much nicer to have it lined and finished like this? THIS is one of the reasons I sew: I can have what I want, and it's pretty both inside and out. 
Our site was at the Greenbush Group Campsite, in the Northern Unit of the Kettle Moraine State Forest. It's a beautiful location, with trails all around, so the kids have a lot of fun exploring.
We spent most of Saturday at Elkhart Lake. The kids built a intricate sand structure and played a lot in the sand and water. The mamas (and two dads) ate lunch, snacked, sunned, and had some good beer and wine. :)
I love camping with these girls -- the food is fantastic! Some of the food we had: bean/rice nachos, aisan salad, quesadillas, melted brie with bread, blueberry pancakes, hoppel poppel, sandwiches, and various delicious dips for chips. We also roasted marshmallows and made smores. Everyone helps everyone else out, which makes things so much nicer.
We got rained on at least twice, which, while not great for packing up, made for good frog hunting.
We picked about 15 pounds of berries. They are so sweet and juicy. Yesterday I put up 4 batches of my Easy Strawberry Jam. We also made popsicles by adding orange juice and a touch of sugar to the berries and blending them. Yummy!
The boys helped by keeping Connor out of my way, and by licking the spoons and pot! Mmmmm, there is nothing better than hot jam! They also made peanut butter and jelly sandwiches right away. :)
All the fruit floated to the top, though, so I don't think I'll be entering any in the fair. Does anyone know why that happens? Today I'll put some berries aside for when our peaches come, and then I'll make MY favorite jam: Peach-Strawberry. I just love how all the jars look on my counter.
