Owl Family Tree
My very good friend’s birthday was last week and I wanted to make her something special. I kept thinking and coming up with ideas for things that were okay, but nothing really stood out and spoke to me and said, “make me.” Finally 2 days before her birthday I had this idea, but no pattern or picture to go off of. We are both on an owl kick right now (well, mine is a kick, I think hers may last longer!) and I want to make all these owl things. I also have been thinking about and dreaming about and looking at trees. All trees are drawing my attention and captivating me – I have just been looking at their shapes and wanting to paint them on my walls and sew them and buy lots of paper with trees and sheets and it goes on and on. So I had this idea and had to actually make my own pattern! I am usually not a pattern maker, but this was fun and I enjoyed working on these “family trees.” I made one for myself at the same time. I decided to tell my friend, S, about the project before it was finished so that it would be something she would like, so the picture is what hers looked like when I gave it to her. She may add her family’s names or may just leave it like it is and I think her plan is to frame it. The little blue owl did have two wings, but apparently the glue didn’t like those fabrics, so it fell off. I am going to get her another one! It was a hit at their house even though it was almost a week late. I hope they, especially S, will enjoy it for years to come:)
S’s family tree, My family tree, close ups of the owls on my tree
So, here’s what I did:
I found a tree I liked; this happened to be an image I had saved of a Pottery Barn Kids wall decoration. I then drew a similar one free-hand on card stock and cut it out. I found some owls I liked in a kids book and redrew them as well. The book is Animal Things to Make and Do; I sell the Usborne Books, so let me know if you want one!! Then I picked out all the fabric that I wanted to use for the owls and background. I used some wool felt for the tree circles and a couple of fat quarters I bought a long time ago for the grass and sky and the trunk is some brown twill. The owls all used little scraps I had in my scrap box. I ironed all those onto some heat and bond lite and cut out the little pieces. The beaks are just sewn in a little spot and I’m hoping they won’t fray since this project isn’t meant to be played with. I used some white felt for the eyes and did french knots to hold them on. The trunk and grass are machine sewn and the tree circles are hand sewn with DMC Coton Perle. I finished mine in the way that I decided it would be cutest, although my embroidery on the names leaves a lot to be desired… I added some batting and ribbon tabs and backed it with some neat “recycling” fabric from Timeless Treasures. I am not sure yet where I will hang it, but I want to use a short curtain rod, dowel rod or towel bar.
My work is not perfect, which as a perfectionist is really funny to me, but I enjoy not being perfect in my sewing. For some reason it is the one thing I can just go with and enjoy. Other crafts make me want to do and redo until it is perfect, but sewing is just fun for me. I hope you enjoy my little Owl Family Tree. I sure enjoyed making it. If anyone wants me to make up a pattern I might be able to try my hand at it. We’ll see if there is interest.
Have a blessed day!
Filed under News | Comments (4)Goals
I know we’re already a week into 2010, but I wanted to get my goals for this year down. I’m not a resoloution kind of person. Change is good, but I really want to strive to live my life in a way that doesn’t require huge changes at the beginning of EVERY year. So I decided to make a list of my goals for this year. Some of these I’ve already gotten started on and others are a bit more of a work in progress.
Goals for Self
Lose 15 pounds, preferably in the first 6 months of 2010. I lost about that much last year and to get myself as close to my “pre-baby” body as I’m going to, this is what I have left. I know I can do it and I’m ready to!
Read my One Year Bible EVERYDAY! I tried to do this last year and many days didn’t do it. The days I did read it I learned so much though and I want to commit to learning from the Bible even if I don’t read it everyday like I plan.
Find a curriculum and teaching style that I enjoy for the remainder of this school year and for the next one. The last semester has been kind of boring/dissapointing for me in that regard and I want to be excited about what I’m teaching and excited that I get to teach my children. Right now, some days, I’m not.
Learn to weave or spin or both.
Get a lot more sewing and knitting and other crafting done than last year. Crafting time is me time and I really need more of that to stay sane with my family. I find that the days and weeks that I get that time to make something beautiful by myself I am a lot happier with everyone else in my house:)
Goals for Family
Get out of all debt, except our mortgage. We don’t have too much to pay off, but we are also van shopping which would add more. I know it’s possible, we’ll just have to really buckle down and get the money where it needs to go, not always fun.
Finish a lot more of our house. I’d like to get our small bathroom remodeled and usable and finish painting and decorating more of the rooms. The sunroom and our bedroom are at the top of my painting/decorating list and slowly they are coming together! I will post pictures when they are actually finished of before and after like I promised a year ago! Rooms just aren’t done so I haven’t been able to do that yet.
Get healthier as a family. I know we aren’t that unhealthy, but I just want to continue trying to eat more healthily and excercise more as a family even in the months that aren’t as good for that.
Grow spiritually as a family and encourage each other. I don’t think we do enough of this and I would like to make a concious effort to encourage my husband and children in their spiritual walk.
Homeschooling Goals
Find an enjoyable routine and curriculum, as stated above. I’m not the only one who is unhappy with the current stuff. We are getting ready to try some new things that I ordered and I will definitely post about them if we find that we like them!
Teach Taylor to write her letters, spell her name and get her started reading. She’s been moving pretty slow with this in her preschool class and I am hoping to get her doing a better job by the end of 2010. She is so different than Kristopher and doesn’t really seem to care. She wants to “do school” but she doesn’t want to retain anything. She is also younger than Kristopher was when he started school, so I guess that could be part of it. Suggestions?
I would like to see Kristopher’s writing skills improve. He does well with everything else, but he just doesn’t like to write (at least not for school). A friend has suggested some books for me and I am going to see what fun things I can come up with.
Those are my current goals for the year. I’m sure there will be more added as the year progresses and of course I have small everyday goals too. How about you? Any big goals you’d like to share to get me motivated (or give me more goals – haha!)? I hope you accomplish everything that you set out to do this year.
Happy New Year a week late!
Filed under News | Comment (0)2009 in Review
I wanted to highlight some of my favorite moments of 2009 for posterity and I saw a few others blog in this manner this week, so I’m going to copy. I’ve never been one to come up with my own ideas, but I really enjoy taking others!! ;)
January – We celebrated Kristopher and Kody’s birthday quietly with dinner and some cake. Kristopher didn’t get to have a party this year. At the end of the month Western KY was hit by a huge ice storm and we were without electricity and water for almost a week. Our gas fireplace kept us warm and we had to find non-electronical things to occupy our time with. The nights were long since it got dark earlier and we sat around playing cards by candlelight and went to bed pretty early. It was nice to spend so much time together, but we were glad when we could take showers again!
February – Kristopher participated in his first Cub Scout Pinewood Derby. He built his car with some help from Kody, to look like a green pickup truck. It won the prize for most realistic vehicle. Unfortunately it didn’t win in the speed category. We still had a lot of fun with it and the whole family was able to be there:)
March – We started working outside a lot in March, trying to clean up and clear some of our property. The first thing to go was this little old shed. There were two of them right behind our house and we decided to only keep the bigger, nicer one.
April – We had a great Easter, but looking back through my pictures these are some of my favorite memories. The first is of our very dear friends. We hung out with them too many times to count over the year, this is just one of them. Kody found many turtles when he was out clearing the yard or mowing and this is one of them. We thought afterward when we found others that we should have tagged him so we could count how many we actually had. A few we were able to tell some differences. I also have to include this picture of Kameron. He was toted to many soccer games in the spring and he enjoyed playing on the blanket and discovering grass!
May – We bought a new refrigerator this month because we were tired of the old one leaking onto our new floor and ruining it. We really like the new one! Taylor played her first season of soccer this spring and she loves it. I hope she continues to like it or some form of physical activity. She really enjoys being outside and running though, so I think she’ll keep it up for awhile. We also finished Taylor’s room this month.
June – The only memorable thing I could see in pictures this month is that we went to Kody’s cousin Amy and her new husband Jim’s wedding reception. We all had a lot of fun there. Oh yeah…I celebrated my birthday this month too, don’t really remember it though…I think I was getting things ready to teach a week of VBS at church:)
July – So many beautiful memories this month, I took hundreds of pictures! We went to the Independence Day parade and Kristopher walked in it and threw candy with his cubscout pack. We made a trip to Louisville and visited with Grandpa and got to do many things. We spent many days at my in law’s house playing oustide in the garden. But my most favorite memories from this month are of my sweet boy and his cute chubby little hands and feet. I want to remember this forever…
August – This month we started a new adventure…Homeschool. We were unsure of ourselves and wondered if we made the right decision, especially with some of the people we had questioning us. After the last few months of living the homeschooling life, even with the hard days, I wouldn’t trade it back for anything. I really am glad we dove in and tried this and I’m so glad that it is working for our family. I am also very thankful for our support network of families doing the same thing!
September – We celebrated Kameron’s first birthday and Taylor’s fourth all in the same week. It was a busy week that dominated the month in time, energy and pictures!
October – Kristopher learned to ride his bike around the end of August and one of our favorite things to do this fall has been to take a walk/bike ride. The kids hop on their bikes (Taylor’s in a tricycle), Kameron is in the stroller and Kody and I walk. Our street is perfect for family time like this and we all enjoy it. I just love looking at this picture of my “big kids” on their “bikes”. It makes me smile inside!
November – Kristopher and Taylor were outside playing so much at the beginning of this month because it was still so warm. This particular day they decided, on their own, to have a picnic. They covered this old stone well with a picnic blanket, got their little chairs set up and then came and ordered some food. It was fun to watch them with their own ideas:) This month I also participated in a Craft Bazaar at my church – I had a table set up with my handmade things and one for the Usborne books I started selling in August. I really like the books and it has been fun selling them.
December – Christmas was lots of fun and I have so many pictures of decorations and presents being unwrapped, but I don’t think those things will be the ones my mind remembers. The homeschool group that I am in had a birthday party for Jesus (I helped a bit with the organization of it) that the kids all enjoyed. We had crafts, food, cake, bible story, games; what more could you want? We also started tearing up our little bathroom (the kids/guest bathroom) so that we can make it bigger and nicer. It will probably be a work in progress for sometime, but at least it got started! Kristopher was in the older kids musical at church this year and he played the part of a man who lost all his belongings in a fire. He didn’t have any lines to remember, so it waas pretty easy. He did a great job singing too! Taylor also sang before the big kids with the preschool choir. She loves to sing, but I’m not so sure about the being in front of people. Her face is fun to watch.
It was a great year and I feel like we got a lot accomplished not only in our “needs work house”, but in our lives. I feel like we all have grown in our walk with Christ this year and that we have grown closer as a family as well. We still have our issues (doesn’t everybody?) but we’re headed in the right direction. I hope 2009 was the same way for you! Happy 2010 everyone!
Filed under Holidays, Homeschool, House Remodel, Kids, News | Comment (0)