I'm Loaded

I'm loaded with projects. Two baby showers and three weddings coming up! Not Much else I can do today. Hope to post some finished projects soon! 

Note; Flannel falls apart when embroidered. Going to find some glue.

Good Reading

I am loving this book. As Rich and I are praying about homeschooling I am researching as many books as possible. to want to feel ready, but I don't know if thats possible. I'm hoping to get my feet wet at least before I jump in. But this book is so reassuring and specific about texts and teaching examples, and thats just what I need to direct us into being an active learning household. It is also neat that many of the books mentioned are ones that my Mom used with me and my sisters for the two years she taught us. I still really like the Narration approach and I think they will work well together. This book gave me more of a specific place to start.

I have also been mending jeans, and embroidering wedding and baby shower gifts. And I have many more to go! Hope to share pics with you soon!

Another chance

We found this shelving unit nailed into our apartment's garage wall. I asked Rich, why don't we just pull it off, paint it and hang it in the kitchen? (I wanted shelves for my glass hostess set that was hidden away.) This is what it looked like immediately after I brought it into the house.  

I thought the curves definitely had potential but the nubs on the bottom reallly had to go. One was missing anyway(far right), so we sawed them off and sanded the edges. Here it is dusted and ready to paint. It looked like it had never seen any kind of sealer or finish before and we probably should have sanded it or something but that is an extra step, and with me getting the project finished fast is the objective. 

So here we are painting. This was the first of three coats of wall paint that our landlords let us use to match the shelves to the wall. Plus, it was free.

Here it is hung on our dining area wall with cup hooks attached. Rich had to use the drill to make holes first and then screw them in, but it didn't take long. We mounted it with six screws we found in the garage as well. 

So that is the story of how we gave that sad shelf another chance. Out of the garage and into the sunshine, holding beautiful things and making me smile every day.

This little light

Brightens a dreary day. 

I like this whimsical idea, using a little terra cotta pot for a candle. The scent of this one is greenhouse from Yankee candle. Perfect for a spring fragrance in the house!

Everything Has It's Space

This is the first room in our apartment. In a small space you make do. And for my mind I need everything to have it's own place, or I will really lose it. So I'm sharing how I have divided up our living space.

This part of the room is the TV/sitting area. 

To the right of the doorway is my crafting/sewing table (made from a piano!)
As we continue moving to the right, here is the library section.

Then the entry, I must have a place to drop what I need to right by the door. The coat hooks are working out nicely in that previously empty space.

Then we have the office  area with my inspiration board and finished work. Husband is working on money matters, I'm so blessed that he enjoys the numbers part of things.

And here is the full picture. I love having a ceiling fan. It happened to match our decor so well too!
And here it is from the other side. I have gotten the urge to move things around every now and then but I wonder if all these areas could ever work so well in another way.

Coming Soon

A Baby girl will being arriving at the English household very soon (maybe even this weekend!). The shower was last night and given by the ladies at church. I would say there about 50 women there, and many high school age (it was nice to see young faces and to know they took time out of their busy schedules to come). 

Arlena gave me some patterns that she liked and I managed to put together a jumper and embroidered a onesie to match. 

They are dog people and I found this pattern in a book called sublime stitching. I added the purple bow to make it more girly.

 I'm looking forward to seeing Annalise in her dress this summer!

Kute

I'm pretty glad with how the K turned out today.  I feel so blessed to have Etsy to work with and being able to stay home with Jaren is wonderful. 

Its up on Etsy now. If anyone wants a custom one I have plenty of Dictionary left!