Patching boys' jeans

If you're like me, you often pick up a pair of jeans, wondering whether or not to fold them up one more time, or add them to the burning trash pile. A few months ago I came up with a new idea how to fix pants. Since my hubby also uses jeans, I had no problem getting matching pieces. See the photos below and notice how I sewed the pockets from big jeans over the worn knees, which in this case all happen to be on the same knee for some peculiar reason, :), and used the bottom part of the big jeans to replace the worn part I cut off of Joseph's jeans.

Now that summer is here and there is no more school, he will be wearing these pants out one more time, and then we can worry about buying new ones. This saves me money for now, and he loves them! no more boring patches, although I never was much of a pant patcher before this.

Mother's Day

Here is a rose Jessica and myself embroidered on a tea towel for my dear Mother this Mother's Day. (My mother lives in Canada, and when my sister from there visited here, I was able to send it along.)

 Happy Mother's Day, Mom!

We had something very special happen at our farm this Mother's Day. Jessica's cat had kittens! For the very first time she became a mother of five little kittens. That is quite a handful! This is also the first time we have ever had kittens born on our farm, so it is an exciting event.

Catching Up

Finally I have gotten the quilt done. I don't think I will attempt another queen size quilt anytime soon. I thoroughly enjoyed having all the ladies over to help me quilt it though.

 I have matching curtains, and plan to make matching pillowcases someday. For now I will pack it away.

 

 Here are the chickens I mentioned a while back. For the most part the coupe is now done. All the wood is recycled. I love recycling! The posts come from hubby's work shop, and instead of nailing a structure that can be moved, I dug holes in the ground, put the posts in and attached everything to the posts. I did not bother trying to saw those posts in any way, so I found it easier to put them in the ground till they were the same height, as the posts came in different heights. Our skill saw is down so everything else had to be sawn by handsaw. (I suppose its just as well, since I am too busy lately to exercise, but I need it somehow. :) The roof is not nailed down and can easily be removed. The door is on the north side; I used a plywood sheet as I figured this way the chickens had a little more shelter in one corner at night. During the day we open the door and let the chickens roam. It is Joseph's job to feed them before breakfast, and he enjoys it. 

Will it save us any money raising a few chickens this way? Maybe, maybe not, but when you are a parent, you start looking at things not just from a financial point of view, but how will your children benefit from the experience. And in this case I realized it is an invaluable lesson for them. Besides, its fun!!!

Homemade Napkins

When I visited another blog a while back, a mom explained how she had made her own napkins, and I knew I was making some. I had this fabric given to me by a friend, and it just needed to be put to good use, and this was it! The basket I picked up for free at a yard sale. When I serve food and have these cloth napkins on the table, people admire them. So many storebought ones are so cheap that you need several to do the job, but with these, you only need one. If you want quality disposable napkins, you have to pay lots of money, lots more than these homemade ones cost. Besides being a huge money saver, it is something people will enjoy using, and you are also going green---now that's a good thing!

(The size of the finished napkins are 12" by 12".)

Embroidering time!

Jessica has such a fine touch when it comes to making little stitches. I am teaching her how to embroider lately, and she is so good at it! I love spending my Sunday afternoon outside in the shade with her, both of us with some embroidery work in hand. Such a good way to spend time with my little girl. It brings back those wonderful memories of my mother teaching us young girls how to sew and embroider.

I am working on a yellow rose napkin which I plan to give to her once we are both done with ours. Hopefully she will hang on to those memories for a long time to come!

On Walmart and Ideas...

Walmart is good for a few things. Or maybe many, depending... Like buying a nice summer hat. And giving birth to ideas.
My Handsome let out a remark a few days ago that surfaced again in my mind when I was in Walmart. He said something about someone looking nice wearing a certain hat, and I thought to myself, hmmm, I think I will get myself one! I saw this cute one and just had to buy it, even though it wasn't in the budget. It was, after all, only $7.00. By the way, my hubby does a nice job giving haircuts, right?


I saw a few skirts in Walmart that later on gave me some ideas. Like, maybe I can make my own? Maybe I can get rid of some scrap fabrics here? Maybe I can save myself some money? Maybe I can be in 'style' doing it? I had just bought that shirt in STUFF, and it just happened to match with some fabrics I had lying around. And I mean I had some of it lying around for a loooong time.

I threw that thing together today; once I start, I can't stop. And man, is it ever comfy. Nothing beats the comfiness of a light summer skirt like that, if you know what I mean. If you have one you will know what I mean.

So go ahead and look in your closet or boxes or wherever you store your fabrics. See if you can't find three or four or five pieces of scrap that can be pieced together. Hey, don't worry, it will be in style! This kind of skirt uses lots of fabric so it is excellent if you want to reduce your stock of scraps, and the pattern ideas are endless but simple. Let me know if you like the idea or make yourself one and show it to me!