On her last visit to mammy and gumps house Aria drew a picture for me.
It is mammy and Aria holding hands. 
Children’s children are the crown of old men, and the glory of children is their father. Proverbs 17:6
My friend Sara has so graciously shared her amazing supply of fibers with me. Alpaca from Colorado from her treasured source.
This was my very first experience with fiber, starting from the beginning and working through the steps to completion.
This fiber came from Cuddles the Alpaca and I have to tell you that it feels amazing!
The very first step in preparing the fiber was to shake out all the loose grass and straw, 
then washing it in very hot water and a mild soap.
I put it on an old window screen and set it in the sun on my porch to dry.
So Cuddles is now washed and dry and ready for the next step.
Handcarding is next, and very time consuming, but I love it!
Carding the fiber combs it and and pulls all the fibers in the same direction and prepares it for spinning. You also catch a lot of the grass and straw that did not come out in the wash.
As you card the fiber, you get rolags and that is what you will spin.
The next step is to spin! 
Spinning is so wonderful, it is relaxing and I could easily spin an entire day away!
After I spun the fibers, I plied it by using two yarns and spun them together in opposite directions. It makes the yarn stronger and I like the look of a two-ply yarn.
I washed the plied yarn again and hung it on my porch to dry, using a weight at the bottom to pull out any kinks.
After it was dry, I wrapped it on the niddy-noddy to make my skein.
A finished skein of alpaca yarn. 
It made 5.8 oz-233 yards of a 2-ply yarn.
I have not knitted anything with it yet, I am still trying to decided what to make.
She stretches out her hands to the distaff, and her hand holds the spindle. Proverbs 31:19
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And do not forget who you are in Christ. Royalty. A child of the King.
Behold what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God! 1 John 3:1a
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This is the baby quilt I made for our new little Landon.
So a trip to JoAnn’s found me loaded down with 1/2 yard pre-pieced quilt squares (I actually cut this in half), 1/2 yard of baby blue minky fabric, 1 yard for border and and hemming and 21/2 yards for the outside border and back. You will also need quilt batting, I used low loft.
Minky is wonderful and super soft, but it is hard to work with, it moves when you sew it, so make sure that you pin, pin, pin.
I cut a 4 inch border out of the minky and sewed it to the already pieced center.
Then ironed it in place. Ironing is a must, the seams will not lay flat or look good if you do not iron. Be careful when you iron the minky that your iron is not too hot, it will melt.
I cut another 4 inch border out of the circle fabric and sewed it to the minky border.
I usually let the border hang over then go back with my square and cut it off.
Since the last border had a pattern and because of the size I wanted the quilt, I cut the side border so that I would have one row of the animals going down the sides, making sure that the pattern of the fabric is running the right way. I sewed the sides on first.
I cut the border for the top and bottom wider, running the pattern of the fabric the same way as the sides, then sewed it onto the quilt.
This is the top of the quilt.
I laid the quilt on top of the batting and cut it the same size. With wrong sides together I laid the quilt back and top together, making sure the back had overhang all around for hemming.
Then I pinned it into place so it would not move while I quilted it on my sewing machine.
Starting in the center, and smoothing it out as I sewed, I quilted it using a long stitch.
Working from the center out and sewing all around the quilt until it was all quilted.
I then turned the overhang over and pinned in place for the hem.
And sewed it down.
This is the finished project.
l confess, I got a lot of puckering on the back and had to rip out the quilt seams, like four times, but finally did it one seam at a time, then ironed it before I went on to the next.
I washed it in Dreft laundry soap for babies and it came out smelling nice.
“Though you lie down among the sheepfolds, You will be like the wings of a dove covered with silver, and her feathers with yellow gold.” Psalm 68:13
Posted in Sewing Tutorials | 2 Comments »
Guess who got a new pair of Ruby Slippers?
It was a surprise from gumps.
Then they were off to play Dorothy!
Gumps, as the flying monkey, whisked her off to play.
And oh yeah,
P.S . . . . . I love you more than Ruby Slippers
How beautiful are your feet in sandals, O prince’s daughter! Song of Solomon 7:1
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What an amazing miracle and blessing a baby is! God’s very precious gift to us!
My great nephew Landon Thomas Musser was born January 20th, weighing 6lbs-8oz.
I can’t wait to meet you sweet baby boy!
as newborn babes, desire the pure milk of the word, that you may grow thereby, if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is gracious. 1 Peter 2:2-3
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I got the cutest little Wolfgang Puck cast iron cocotte set at our Christmas Eve chinese gift exchange. (thanks Bert)
So in my eagerness to use them I googled and found a recipe for Chicken Pot Pie. I changed it up a little but you can find the recipe here:
just type in chicken pot pie. 
I used a whole white wheat flour for the crust. You can find the recipe here:
http://www.heavenlyhomemakers.com
Our course I started with the chicken, which was purchased at whole foods. Once a year they have a great sale on them and I stock up.
I boiled the whole chicken until it was completely done, then pulled it out and cut it up. I saved the broth.
I cut up 1 cup carrots and 1/2 cup celery
and boiled them for about 15 minutes.
While the vegetables were boiling, I melted 1/3 cup butter and sauteed 1/3 cup onions for a few minutes.
I added 1/3 cup flour and mixed it into the butter, then added 2/3 cup milk and 1 3/4 cup the chicken broth that I saved and seasoned it with salt and pepper.
Then I added the cooked drained vegetables and chicken to it. (I also added a can of mixed vegetables because I didn’t have everything I needed, but shhhh, this is a healthy recipe)
I filled the cocotte pots up to the top,
and covered them with my pie crusts and brushed an egg wash on them.
I cooked them in the oven at 425 degrees for 35 minutes.
And, I was VERY happy!! I will definitely make this again. Plus, I will get to use my cocoette set again.
So it was that quails came up at evening and covered the camp, and in the morning the dew lay all around the camp. Exodus 16:13
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You will always find us having a tea party. If Aria is here (or not) we bring out the little tea cups and teapot and have tea.
We make everything an occasion to have a tea party.
And we try to go all out with tea cakes, snacks and all the yummy things you can think of that you might have at a tea party.
Aria loves to dress up and dressing for tea is very special for her.
I am not sure who has more fun, mammy or Aria.
And just so you know, Aria likes to gobble down her sweets, then with a sweet little smile and her little gold spoon, reach over and take the sweets off my plate. 
But this mammy doesn’t mind at all.
Jesus answered and said to her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is who says to you, ‘Give Me a drink,’ you would have asked Him and He would have given you living water.” John 4:10
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I am really into knitting vests right now. I love the look of them and they are fairly easy to knit up. Not nearly as much effort as a sweater but still looks great. Also, it doesn’t take nearly as much yarn.
I also love the fact that for most of them you can knit them in one piece, without seams. With this pattern you start at the bottom of the front and knit up and then down to the bottom of the back. Sounds easy enough.
I loved the design of the esprit folk tunic pattern so I decided to knit it.
The biggest problem that I had with this pattern is that all the measurements are in cm. Yuck for me, I had to google every measurement that came up, it really tripped me up.
I started out great with the ‘pattern row’ that gives you that cute little scalloped look at the bottom which is called ‘picot’ and up into the eyelet row, which is where something really went wrong.
Somehow I lost 15 stitches there! 15 stitches! How do you lose 15 stitches? I can understand losing 2 or 3, but 15? And the bad part is I didn’t even realize I lost them until I got all the way up to shape the neck. Way to far into it to take it out.
You can see my HUGE mistake in the pictures where the bottom flares out.
But I pressed on.
The vest still fit Aria and she was happy with it. She never noticed mammy’s big mistake.
The yarn was 80% highland wool and 20% alpaca. I got it on ebay several years ago and I really loved it. As you can see, it knitted up wonderful and it covered a multitude of mistakes.
I will make this vest again because I just love it! This time around I will be more aware of the problem areas and I will be more careful, I have all the measurement wrote out on the pattern so I won’t have to look them up again.
You can get the pattern here:
http://www.ravelry.com
Type in Esprit Folk Tunic and it will take you right to it. If you have not ever checked ravelry out it is a must! It is amazing and you will love it.
Bless the Lord, O my soul!
O Lord my God, You are very great; You are clothed with honor and majesty, Who cover Yourself with light as with a garment, Who stretch out the heavens like a curtain. Psalm 104:1-2
Posted in Knitting | 6 Comments »
God is the Lord, and He has given us light. Psalm 118:27a
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The Portion of my Inheritance 
