Almost 3

It is hard to believe that our little helper is almost 3.  But he is!

We had a beautiful Friday and Timothy was a great help when it came to destroying his father's leaf pile.  :)

He followed that up with helping with the dishes...and washing half of the kitchen, too!

We had our latest feeding clinic appointment in Sioux Falls this past week.  Timothy is now 28 lbs, 11 oz, and 34.5 inches, which the team was pleased with and everything else looked great, too.   We are going to keep pushing the eating and dairy products specifically to see how he does with them between now and his next appointment in January.  (My hope is to get off of the medical food formula he is on now and switch to something a little easier to obtain).

I made it through my first craft show, thanks to my mother in law for helping man the booth and the many friends that stopped by and purchased something.  I sold quite a few things, but I have a LOT left over.  I have most of it listed on Facebook right now and things are starting to sell.  Yay for a big trip to the post office on Monday!  :)  

No news on our adoption, just waiting.  The combination of seeing a newborn at church this morning and singing one of the hymns from Evelyn's funeral proved to be too much.  I shed a few tears, doubtful that people really knew why.  But our organist must have seen me and came up after church and said that hymn makes her cry since the funeral, too.  I cried some more...

Baby Quilts for Sale and some Yummies...

So, I have been sewing for my craft show booth, even if I haven't been posting too many pictures.  I thought it would be fun to take a picture of all of these quilts at the same time.  But I couldn't wait anymore - here are the first 8, with 4 more in the works!

My little helper :)  I have had a lot of help with these quilts, too.  A friend quilted all of them with perfection, complete with minky backs!  She also whipped a couple of the tops up too.  :)  When I got them back from her, I have been sewing the bindings on the front and passing them to my mother-in-law who has been hand stitching the bindings on the back.  Thank you to both of you!

Timothy really enjoyed the farm ones...especially the tractor blocks.  My favorite of the group has to be the pastel one on the right in the picture above.  Lots of pretty little flowers, bunnies, and little girls sitting cross-legged and reading books to chickens.  :)

The pastel one in this picture is flannel.  The rest of them are quilting cotton from good shops with cotton batting.

I have been enjoying the work with all of the minky backs!

So there you go.  8 blankets done with 4 more that I will show you when they are completed.  They all measure in at 27" x 32", perfect for tucking in a carseat, stroller, or your diaper bag.  I am selling them for $40, so if you need a blanket or know someone who would like to receive one as a gift, let me know.  :)  My first craft show will be in October, so act now, or the one you want may be gone!

More craft-showing items to come.  :)

Adoption update:  No news.  Praying continuously.

Canning update: (because you love knowing what is in my pantry...admit it)

 9 - 12 oz. jars of chokecherry syrup (soooo good!)

8 - 8 oz. jars of peach salsa (yummy!)

9 - 8 oz. jars of pizza sauce!  (super easy, and so nice to know we can whip out pizza night and have sauce from our tomatoes!)

Progress

I haven't given an update on what I have been working on for the craft show in awhile.  The pile of finished projects is slowly growing.  I am hoping I can kick myself in the pants and get some of these piles a little larger.

9 art folios, 3 art wallets, 6 crayon rolls.  I just finished 6 more crayon rolls and I have a zillion more folios and wallets prepped and ready to go.

10 more car carriers...I have already sold 4 of these and Timothy has one too (product testing).  :)  These are really fun to make and I am hoping these will sell well.  I have some tractor fabric that is going to be turned into a fun variation of this!

I don't spend all of my time behind the sewing machine.  I have 10 of these little mug sweaters just needing buttons and will have another 10 that will be ready to be blocked sometime next week.  Here is how they work:

 

Naked mug.  Very beautiful (thanks Kim and Thom!), but too hot to handle when filled with beverage.

 Nice and cozy.  :)  I am thinking these will sell well because everyone knows one coffee or tea lover, if not several, and it is a great gift to pair with a nice bag of coffee or with a box of teas.  We will see if my theory holds.

And a couple of pictures of Timothy, who decided to read to me this morning.  :)

His new favorite is my old Richard Scarry's Best Word Book Ever!

Pattern Testing

Not too much going on this weekend...Timothy and Jared are both down and out with colds and I have been busy cuddling on the couch, watching cartoons, and making soup.  I did manage to whip through a couple of patterns though and test them out for potential craft show items.  

Yes, you heard it, I am committing myself to a craft show this coming fall.  I figured if I start now, I can work at non-frenzied pace and have a good sized stock pile...although I am not sure how to determine that quite yet, but onward I go...

First pattern:  Gathered Clutch

I like it!  The best pattern that I have ever followed in terms of ease and I am looking forward to making lots of these with several variations.

Second pattern: Crayon Art Folio, Regular and Mini

Again, good pattern (although I would prefer the cutting to be listed out instead of folding a piece of paper a bunch of times) and straight forward assembly.  I am going to be making a bunch of these in really fun kid fabrics, some of which I already started collecting.  Let the cutting of owls, cars, farm animals, planes, alphabet and fairy princess fabric commence!  :)

Looking for feedback on this one...have you done a craft show?  Any advice?  What are you looking for when you shop at one?  Any recommendations on good patterns that you have made....let me know!

You may be wondering about why I am doing a craft show?  It comes down to this: adoption.  It costs. A LOT.  And we found out last week from our tax preparer that because they redid the adoption tax credit and because we live in a parsonage (and don't own our house), we really will not benefit from any federal tax credit.  

Ouch.  

Soooo...I am going to try a craft show and we are going to be doing some fundraisers and apply for some grants as soon as our homestudy is complete.  (the paperwork on our end is complete...just waiting for fingerprints and background checks to come back and a couple of visits with the social worker)  Please pray for our family as we continue on this road and as we approach anniversarys related to Evelyn this spring!