Helloooo!

First, I just have to say how special it is when my Young Man wants to have a cup of coffee or tea with me.  Ah, I just LOOOOVE it!  Of course, he is not allowed to consume any real quantity of either, but we fix a special mug, (Darth Vader on this day), with lots of milk, a fair amount of sugar and a splash of coffee.  Or we opt for decaf tea.  I just love my time with him and it's so great to see him enjoy that special time with me.  I will continue to foster this with the hopes that as he grows older he will continue to know that we can always take time to sit with a good cuppa and chat about whatever is on his mind.  And have a cookie...

I see YARN!!!

Well, you know how I think.

Actually, we had a spectacular, cool day at Mt. Vernon and I can't wait to show you some of the pictures from our day.  The views are almost as amazing as the history.  I'll try to get that together soon. 

But for now just a peek at my tiny bit of Ripples....

Remember the Ripple-A-Long?  Here is my first post about it and Here is where it all started at Attic24.

I will tell you that I was struggling with which color next?  Does that look right??  Oh, I just don't like how that looks!  Etc....

But,

 I kind of like it now.  I mean, maybe I'm just bonding with it because it spends so much time in my hands and I've gotten used to the colors I've chosen.  I don't feel that I've gotten very far, but that's not important.  It gave me something to do on a recent car journey and I love always having it close by in it's basket waiting to be picked up. 

Ok, so looking at it now, I'm still not crazy about how it started out, but I have lots to learn about using colors together and I'm on a Color Journey.  I will sit and ponder my next few color choices and hopefully will surprise myself.  And you!

Lastly, I just have to say I'm always amazed at the amount of catalogs that come in the mail as the Christmas season approaches.  This is my stack so far.  I have decided to watch the stack this year and see just how many catalogs make their way to the Hearthroom .  Of course we recycle here at the Hearthroom, but I just found a great little new-to-me idea for these babies. 

My grandmother gave me an early Christmas present when I went for a visit this past week.  She is the one who years ago instilled in me my LOOOOVE for handmade everything.  And she continues to bring me great ideas and inspiration.  Although they mostly involve YARN . . .  this little craft helps you recycle.

I'll be back to show you what you can do with your stack soon!

xoxo

Busy Happy Days

Every day is an adventure around here, but sometimes we actually get to go out and have some fun with a Young Man kind of adventure.  This fall he has given us ample opportunity to get outdoors and do things we wouldn't have otherwise.

October 1st was blustery cold here and we did have a little bundled-up sort of picnic by our fire ring.  The usual fried chicken, potato salad and fruit accompanied by the family dog, drooling of course.  For us it's just a fun way to welcome fall.

Then we went on a little camping trip for Young Man.  Just one night and we knew it would be a little chilly, but we were excited to go as it would be Sweet P's first camping trip. 

It was fun setting up our little 'home' for the night.  Sweet P.  enjoyed every bit of outdoor time spent toddling and trying out her new 'run'.  Young Man had lots of friends and activities to enjoy.  We rarely saw him actually...

 Our fun afternoon turned into a bright, chilly night.  It was a great time to sit around a campfire and chat with friends and chase little people who loved the idea of outdoor freedom in the moonlight!  We did wake up with cold noses and very, very, very much enjoyed our morning coffee.  Yes, I did say morning coffee. 

It's still camping - but with coffee!  You've got to have priorities, right?

 A gorgeous, crisp morning full of light.

 It was all great fun for little people and big people.  We can't wait to do it again.

 Next, young man had a fishing trip to attend and we wanted to go as a family.  That meant setting up a little day-camp for Sweet P. and myself.  As she would like to 'be the fish' and play in the water that was much too cold, we had to make an interesting site far from the fishing spot.

 It was a beautiful day to be out.  It was one of those days when the sun felt so hot we would put our blanket just in the edge of the shade, but as the sun moved we began to notice the chill.  It was an afternoon spent moving our blanket many times chasing the sun's warmth.   

This was our view of the fishing spot.  A view dappled with color. 

 But this was our 'close-up' view!  Yarny goodness and happy toddler-time goodness was very much appreciated in our sun warmed spot.  This is a small afghan I made with stash-on-hand. 

And at the end of the day everyone was smiling.  Young Man was successful and had a great time catching our dinner.  Sweet P. was very interested as long as she maintained a little distance from the catch. 

Ahhhh...  It was just so gorgeous!  

Just looking at this picture now makes me feel so relaxed.  I need to make a screen-saver with it.  Then print it out poster size and hang it in every room, lol! 

Happy Day to you!

Day Trip

 One of our favorite things to do is take Day Trips.  In September we were able to participate in a day at The Frontier Culture Museum in Staunton, Virginia.  It's  a great way to spend some time outdoors and seeing how others have lived.  There is lots of walking and exploring to be done here.  I just thought I'd share a few of our favorites with you.

The English Farm.

Look at the detail in this chimney!  Love it!

Young Man is always interested in Animals of Every Kind.  I could not pull him away from this area.   But it wasn't long after I did get him to wander with me that he made friends with a lovely chicken.

Quiet moments with Sweet P. in her stroller and Young Man running along with a group of boys.

We had a picnic lunch here by this fence with the big friend above.

Simple beauty. 

More Animals of Every Kind love.

The German Farm.  There is a great barn with hay loft here that young men (and little ladies) can enjoy climbing and jumping out of for hours if allowed.

The Museum was decorated up in preparation for their Oktoberfest celebration.

And then we came home and reflected on how simply people lived in those times.  Not that it was easy, but there is something very attractive to me about the simplicity.  They sometimes cooked and slept in the same rooms.  Really big rooms with a rough bed, a large table and a huge fireplace.  A hard life at times, I'm sure.  Their priorities were much different than some of ours today.  No granite kitchens and stainless steel! 

So as we mixed and baked up some molasses bread it was pretty interesting to consider how things used to be done.   And made us grateful for some of the things we take for granted.  But it also impressed upon me the importance of living more simply. 

So, for what it's worth... my pondering today.

xoxo

Boo-tiful October

A kitty to help decorate my window for fall. 

Our window gives the little ones something to do.  So much to see and play with and rearrange.

See those fabric carrots?  I made those years ago along with a pumpkin. 

I can't believe they are still around. 

A very warm fall welcome on the patio.



Colorful leaves over the patio.

 The beautiful view with cows.  

I just Love cows! 

 One of my favorite spots of color out back.

My completed Very-Retro fall sweater/vest/apron...

 The same basic granny square sweater that I used for Stash Busting Cutie

but with different trim, different sleeves and I did not seam the sides.  

I made these little granny-stripe pieces and crocheted buttons to wrap around the sides like an apron. 

Truly it was just to use up stash and provide Sweet P. with an extra layer of warmth. 

 Can you believe those colors?!  They definitely say "Fall" but to me they also said "1970's, avocado, rust."

This is perfect for the season, but she totally looked like a Pumpkin Fairy!

Halloween goodies for a friend.

Our Annual Pumpkin Carving results:  My very quickly done attempt.

Hubby's carefully planned cutie. 

Young Man's very first ever All-By-Himself pumpkin carving!

Can you see him in the dark?

We have so much fun each year sitting out in the cool air, leaves swirling around, and watching each other carve out a surprise.  I love family traditions and making memories.  Fall is such a perfect time of year.  I think because of the cooling temps and the warm colors it just gets us in a nesting mood.  The thought of time to come in and be close and cozy together as a family just makes my heart sing! 

 Speaking of heart-singing-happiness, here are my tiny few ripples.  I hope to spend some time with this wonderfully soft Cotton-y yarn today.  Now that Retro is done I will ripple away until I find another yarn distraction. 

I love my little family.  I love the season and my yarn.  I hope you have lots of love where you are too.

August's Attempts

August is like my school-year alarm clock.  Ding ding ding!!!  September is near and you need to have everything ready and in it's place!

And you need to have a clean, comfortable, learning space!

So it was time to get rid of the plain beige walls and get a little more comfortable.  Young Man likes blue and when he says blue he means vivid, saturated, tropical waters blue... but that's a little much for me for a room in the middle of our house.

So off to the home DIY store for paint. 

First off, I want to tell you that the darker blue paint blob to the right is what happens at the DIY store when you finally agree on a more soothing shade of blue with your Young Man and you hand the paint chip (with a paint company's name on it)  to the representative of a different paint brand who happens to be behind the paint counter and says "Well I can make in it our brand."

It does not work and apparently, after returning to the DIY store, it is also not legal to cross paint numbers from one brand to another.  Who knew?  But obviously there is a reason.

So you can see our much lighter blue cut-in here.  Yes, yes...  a little color, a little blue to give us a little personality in our little room without being too distracting.  Wow.  Look at all the mess we had to move and pile up to be able to work in this room.  The dining room was really piled up (prev pic). 

And by now it's dark outside, but our painting is done.  I will admit it was quite rushed and not the best quality painting I've ever done.  But September was coming quickly, you know?

So now we do have a lovely space that we all enjoy being in to learn and play and read.  Even Hubby likes to be in this room.  Now I really want to complete the room with a futon cover and I have a plan to make some curtains.  Crocheted curtains of course!

It's always so much fun to move back into a room and make it function.  I enjoy being able to put-and-putter and make our spaces feel homey.  We've had a good couple of months working in here and we've learned so much.  It's hard to believe a quarter is already over.

August in the Blue Ridge Mountains:  It was still hot, very beautiful and always welcoming.  It's a much different scene now with brightly colored leaves flying to the ground.  Time for soups and big blankets. 

I hope you are warm and cozy where you are. 

I have almost finished my little hooked sweater so hopefully I'll be back to share that REAL soon.

xo

Achieving Balance, or Pursuing It At Least...

The topic of maintaining balance and sticking to routine came up over and over again within the span of just a few days.  It just happened to be at a time when I was thinking about our Routine at home with schooling, child raising, housekeeping and crafting, oh and husband-taking-care-of.  And then there is downtime. 

Stop laughing.

So one of  my dear crafty sister-friends over on SCS was planning a Bible Study based on this book and I took the hint from the various emails, newsletters, blog posts and such that had been whispering balance, routine, etc., and hopped right in. 

I must admit that it has not been easy to get my chapter reading done promptly each week, as I suffer due to my lack of maintaining balance.  However, I faithfully work it in each week where and whenever I can that it won't interfere with the other people who live in this house.  And I am learning that there is no one secret to maintaining balance in one's life.  For me it is a process - an on-going process.  There are a GREAT many THINGS to DO in our days, are there not?  And I have trouble balancing it all.  I can accomplish it all but I'm not at all graceful about it.  I always feel behind or need to do something else and can't get to the things that have grabbed my attention due to other things that are more important at the moment. 

I don't do schedules well.  I like the word Routine.  It gives me just enough structure to know what needs to happen in a day without the stress of staring at a clock.  But what I have found my Routine is lacking in doing this study is that I don't actually allow time for Rest.  No wonder I'm a raving lunatic by the end of the day!  No wonder I feel so frustrated that I never have time to get to the fun things, the downtime things, the relaxing things.  I need more balance.  And so do my kids.  Well, they need a more balanced mom.

Part of being balanced for me is also not just about time and accomplishing things, but feeling settled too.  My dear hubby knows this all too well.  So he convinced me to bring up all of my packed-up crafty goodness from the basement and make a space in a room that we did not currently use

 (as we have not painted it or bought furniture for it).   

I also do not feel settled unless my family is taken care of and are all heart-happy. 

I have much farther to go on my Pursuit of Balance, but I have achieved a new perspective.  And I need to spend more time reading His Word because I believe that's where all the answers are that will remind me of what I really need to be focusing on and what I really need to be doing.  And that includes Rest. 

Wishing all of you a very productive, yet restful day.

A Very Colorful Project

Hello folks!  Come along with me on a Color Journey!  I will be the first one to admit that I am not good at color.  I don't know why because I love LOVE color...  Yet whenever I yearn to make my next scrumptious hooky project out of a yummy scrummy yarn it never seems to be in Big Color.  I always lean towards earthy tones and natural hues when choosing yarn.  Now for Sweet P. I pick out lots of pink of course, but that's as far as it goes.  So when Lucy over at Attic 24 posted about doing a very fun ripple blanket AND THEN mentioned that she was doing a Ripple-A-Long with Heather from Little Tin Bird AND THEN invited whomever-wants-to-Ripple-A-Long, well I knew this was a perfect chance to go Colorful and learn a thing or two.  Probably mostly what I will learn is what colors don't look right next to each other.  Ha!

So after reading their lovely post about choosing colors and stashing yarn I embarked on my search for Color.  Now they have a lovely stash of scrummy yarn, but I was not so prepared.  So I searched for a fairly inexspensive yarn that would be brightly colored but still needed to have some weight and soft scrummy-ness about it to keep my interest.  I think I found just that.  In fact I'm already thinking how WonDerFul this would be for little people clothes!

Yes, pink of course.  And Crocus.  What a perfect name for a Color!

Then some purpley-blues.  Isn't Hydrangea another perfect name for yarn color?!

Oh and then some yummy greens!!  It's pure love...

And I really fell in love with these vivid blues.  I really need to play with Color more often!

And following Lucy's advice I tossed in the yellow, orange and red to add my brightness.  I like to think of these as my Candy Corn colors at this time of year!

So there you have it - my color chocies for a Ripple-A-Long.  As you can see from the labels I bought Shine Worsted yarn from Knit Picks online.  I'm often hesitant to buy a new yarn online because I'd rather be able to get my hands on it before purchasing, but I was NOT disappointed with this yarn!

My new Ripple-A-Long yarn stayed in it's basket for a couple of days and I truly enjoyed just admiring it, but then also realized it was a bit intimidating to start thinking about which color first?  And then second?  I always have a plan and know just what I want in just which color, but again, putting lots of gorgeous color together is new to me.  So I started with a deep pink of course!  I'll be back to show you what went next to it!  Gee I hope this works!

I have to add how much I love Fall!  I've been trying to Autumn-ize the house a bit for the little ones and us big ones.  I love these colors that I know so well year after year.  I've been dressing up my window again so I'll share that later, too.

Outside is looking very Autumn-y too.  Can you see the rain in this picture?  It really helped knock down the leaves for a great leaf pile.  That's been loads of fun here too.  Even the dog is into it.

Happy, lovely fall to you!  I'm seriously going to hook up a little sweater and then do some Rippling.  See you soon!