Recent trip

We had a short, but enjoyable trip to visit dh's family in Virginia. We wanted to surprise his dad with our visit.

Amy went with Nanna & Pappy to the park where they saw those cute little ducks.

Visiting

We're off celebrating a 70th birthday. Be back soon. Lord willing.

Verses I read this afternoon: 1Thes. 5:16-18 Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.

Pillow cases

Here are the pillowcases I made to go with a quilt to be auctioned for our friends' adoption fund. You made learn more here. There's a picture of the quilt on that site.

I generally use rickrack on the pillowcases, but this time I used piping because it matched better. While it's not necessarily harder to work with than rickrack it's difficult to get it right at the edge, so you can see the stitching on the piping. I'm not totally happy with how they turned out, but I do think they are passable.

The Party

Amy & I made paper chains out of scrapbooking paper. For less than $2 we had very cute looking chains. Joann had a sale on paper.

The guests.
Amy had worried and prayed about the weather. She really wanted to swim. It turned out to be warm enough for a bit in the afternoon. Thanking God for that. : )

Later, in between the raindrops, they played the beanbag toss.

Singing to the birthday girl.

While we were eating dinner there was a tornado warning, so we watched the weather carefully and continued eating. There was plenty of rain and wind to accompany our meal. It certainly was an eventful weather day; we had sunny and warm to stormy and chilly.

Overall the party was a success.

Check out this chair

For all you readers out there:
http://www.nobodyandco.it/sito/inglese/the%20bibliochaise.html

Thirteen

Happy Birthday!
For Amy's birthday I put together a scrapbook of pages sent to me (at my request) from family and friends, the women and girls in her life. I had asked them to give her well wishes and/or advice. It was a fun surprise for her. The last few pages were of the AG girls saying "happy birthday" and announcing the next present. Then a picture of Kirsten. (She was an ebay rescue, although she's in pretty good shape.) With that page was a clue to where Kirsten could be found.

Kirsten was waiting patiently in the sitting room.

The next clue sent us to the work room. Kirsten needed some clothes. : ) (Also an ebay find.)

After getting dressed Kirsten took us to the living room where we found her accessories.

The next clue sent us back to the family room where Kirsten's quilt set was waiting. It was the biggest surprise for Amy. She never expected it.

Last came the birthday brownies along with the candles and our beautiful singing of "Happy Birthday." I admit I wasn't exactly prepared for the candles and dd helped by insisting they be there, then she helped stick them in. : ) It was a pretty nice birthday, I think.

Sew Crafty Friday

Click on the Sew Crafty Friday picture to go to Shereen's blog for other crafters.

Emily got a new dress made from the same fabric as my Anna tunic.

I've also been knitting. I joined a monthly knit along yahoo group a couple months ago. Each month there are two dishcloths to knit. It's been good for me to knit these dishcloths because I've learned more stitches and how to read a pattern. It's been fun. Eventually, the washcloths will be gifts for friends and family. I'll get you can't wait. ; )

Happy crafting!

Sam

We have friends in Omaha who adopted their son from the same agency from whom we adopted Amy. He was born a year earlier than Amy, so both families were on "the list" at the same time. At one point we thought maybe we'd be able to adopt him, but our friends we either chosen or first on "the list." I don't remember the details. As is God's way, it was best for Sam to be in our friends' family. He was a perfect match for them.

Last week Sam was at the boy scout camp in Iowa that was hit by the tornado. We (along with everyone else) were shocked to learn he was one of four killed. It was so unreal. Then we were sad for his family and everyone who knew him. We never got the chance to know him because we never lived in Omaha during his life. But his family is special to our family. Dh's parents are good friends of Sam's grandparents, my parents are friends with Sam's parents and sisters. We send Christmas cards back and forth each year.

You may read about Sam here and read the sermon he wrote here. And if you think of it pray for his family.

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort those who are in trouble, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. 2 Corinthians 1:3, 4.

Sew Crafty Friday

Here's a little drawstring bag I made from Amy Butler's In Town Bag pattern. It's only 10x10, so I'm in the procress of making one that's bigger. This is all made from Moda fabric from Fabric Obsession.

I said I'd post a picture of the latest Anna tunic, but I haven't taken it yet. So more to come. : )

Visit Shereen's blog for other crafters' work.

Today's bird happenings

More birdbath fun... Testing the waters.

"What fun it is."

"Aah..."

"I think I'll go back for more."

And then I got to see a great blue heron. We had one visit a couple years ago. I was glad to see one today. I had to take the picture through the screened window, but it didn't turn out to badly.

Emily

I haven't posted pictures of Emily for a while and I know we all need a little dose of cuteness.



According to dd, Emily is learning to knit--just like me. : )

Sew Crafty Friday

See Shereen's blog for more.

I finished dd's final Regency Dress on Monday. You may see more of it here.

This is my second Anna Tunic dress. I finished it Wednesday. I started on a tunic Wed. night. It's coming along nicely, so maybe I'll post it next week.

Marriage Memo-Me! Me! Me!

This week's Marriage Memo is pretty good.

Robin

I just love seeing new things the birds are doing. This is a first for our little bird bath. It came with the science kit I ordered. (Just the plastic tray.)

We've been entertained by a family of house finches. The young ones must be learning how to eat from bird feeders. ; )

We also have house wrens in the birdhouse. That's also a first. Their song is very distinctive. We're up to 29 birds we've seen around our house. I added the house wren last week.

Next weekend the purple martin house goes up. We may not get any this year, but we'll see.

Chippy has planted many sunflower seeds in our flower pots and the deck. I'm not sure if he was hiding them for later or what, but I pulled them all up.

The Regency Dress

Here she is in the "real" dress. It turned out pretty well considering I had a few frustrations.
I'm glad it's finished. DD wants me to make a long-sleeved version, but that will wait until fall. I'm now on to another Anna Tunic dress.

Washing Machine

I'm in the market for a washing maching that will last a while. The one we have now is leaving brown flakes all over the clothes especially on the delicate cycle and handwash cycle. Of course, the delicate cycle is the one I use all the time. I recently ruined a matelesse bedspread.

So Consumer Reports says the front loaders are best. According to CR, "The U.S. Department of Energy now requires washers to use 21 percent less energy, a goal we wholeheartedly support. But several major manufacturers are meeting the new standard in part by lowering wash-water temperatures, which often lowers performance. Traditional top-loaders with center-post agitators are having the hardest time, with some leaving our stain-soaked swatches nearly as dirty as they were before washing. Most top-loaders received only mediocre washing scores, and some had the lowest scores we’ve seen in years." Thank you very much!!

The reviews I've read on http://www.epinions.com/ say that some front loaders will vibrate your house to death.

We are leaning toward the Bosch Nexxt 500 series, but I really don't know what to do. I briefly considered getting a wringer washer like my grandma used to use. ; ) Or how about this one.

I'd like to hear your comments on what washing machine I should get. Help me out.