Jake lounges under the pin oak tree in the midst of the fallen leaves.
Elly hides among the pumpkins as I try to pick out the perfect one for carving.
Elly practices riding her scooter over the leave-strewn walkway.
Author: Marie Haigh
I started knitting 15 years ago right around the time of my marriage and the birth of my niece.
Making Cards with Elly
The foam sponges from Alex Toys are Elly’s favorite way to paint right now.
I had purchased these sponges a few months ago, but for a while Elly wasn’t in a mood to paint or draw. She seems to go in stages. Right now, we are in a painting stage. We’ve painted every day this week.
Earlier this week, Elly sponge painted on construction paper. My favorite piece is hanging in her bedroom.
Yesterday, I pulled some blank cards out and let Elly sponge paint them.
The design comes out so nice because of the way Elly prefers to apply the paint to the sponge. Originally, I had taught her to just press the sponge into the bowl of washable paint we use.
(Oh yes, we use washable paint by Crayola. Despite wearing an apron, the paint gets everywhere. It is partly because Elly likes to paint herself when she tires of painting on paper.)
Yet, Elly would often get frustrated with how difficult it was to get paint over the entire sponge. She wanted the end result to look like a dinosaur or a cat. So, I taught her how to apply the paint to the sponge with a paintbrush. She’ll paint one sponge after another. The joy seems to be in the painting and not in the stamping.
New Washer Machine
When we purchased this house 7 years ago, it came with all the appliances we needed. Yet, we fully understood that over the next few years we would have to replace each and every one. They were all older than the hills.
The dishwasher was the first to go. It died in the first year. Technically, it still ran but it didn’t actually clean all the dishes. I lasted 1 month without a dishwasher and it was pure torture.
Last month, I noticed that our washer machine was leaking.
So I started a search for a new washer rather than wait for it to completely die and have to head to the nearby laundromat before a new one could be found. There were only 2 features I wanted a new washer to have: large capacity and a spin cycle. The latter helped narrow the field down. So many new washers, such as all the Whirlpool models, didn’t have a spin only cycle. I was surprised Surely, I’m not the only person who hand washes her wool sweaters and fancy dresses and uses the spin cycle to get rid of all the excess water.
While visiting Boscovs, I found exactly what I wanted, a GE Energy Star Washer.
It was a GE model just like our current 30+-year-old washer. Obviously, I trusted the brand. It also had the 2 features I wanted. It was large and it had a spin only cycle. Plus, it was on sale.
It took a week for Boscovs to deliver it because it was on backorder. On Saturday, they brought my new washer and took away the old one. I giggled the first time I ran a load in it. It’s huge!
I won’t have to do laundry as often. Woo!
Fun at the Playground
Since school started back up, the local playgrounds have been quiet. Elly misses running around with other little children her age or older.
Still she finds ways to have fun.
Slides are great no matter which direction you are going on them.
Swings are even better when you are upside down.
Spinning anywhere is fun.
After 28 Years, a New Blanket
When I was 8 years old, my Grandmother bought me a cuddle wrap, basically a blanket that could be zipped up and snapped around you. I remember being able to walk around in it when all the closures were done up.
For the past 15 years, it has been on my bed every single night.
Today I took it off and slowly threw it in the trash. It was long overdue. The zipper had broken years ago. The binding had come off in more than one place. Several spots in the middle of the blanket were threadbare.
In its place, I laid down a new blanket.
If you guessed by the colors that I made it, you’re right.
The fabric is called minky and it’s as soft as baby bunny fur. Well, maybe that’s an exaggeration, but it’s still very soft. It came from my stash. More specifically, it came from the stash my MIL gifted me. The color is a lovely, vibrant kelly green. The red satin binding also came from my stash. If the red binding hadn’t been in my stash, I’m not sure it would have occurred to me to use a contrasting color. I’m so glad it was because I love the combination.
For tips on how to add satin binding to a blanket (as this was my first time using satin binding), I watched this YouTube video. Though my corners are quite as nice as hers, I’m still pleased with the final result.
Think it can last 28 years? I’ll be putting it to the test, you can be sure.
Recent Yard Sale Finds
Within the past 6 months, I have bought more furniture for this house than I have in the past 7 years. Most of our furniture has been well-loved hand-me-downs. So, it’s been so much fun adding more of our personality to this house.
My latest finds include a tea cart,
a chair to use with with my recently purchased secretary desk (the seat opens up to reveal storage)
and 2 porch chairs.
I’m still on the hunt for a new island. Though I love my island because it takes a kitchen lacking valuable counter space and turns it into a functional space that a chef would cut his left arm off for, I despise the grout in between the tiles.
(ignore the Rice Krispie treats … this picture was taken a year and half ago)
I can’t tell you the amount of flour that have been stuck in those grout lines over the years and how annoying it was to clean it all out. Truly, I’d love to buy the one from Williams Sonoma, but it’s out of my price range. So my hope is to find an old hutch or tall desk that I can place a slab of marble on top. No luck thus far. Why marble, you ask. Nothing is better for rolling pastries and breads out on. Besides, it’s classic and I love classic.
Dress Alterations
Over the weekend, I finished altering a dress for a friend.
I’ve altered dresses for myself many a time, but this was the first time I had altered a dress for a friend since a dear friend’s wedding 12 years ago.
As always, I talked over my sewing plans with my neighbor, who was a seamstress in her day. She convinced me to leave the excess fabric in the seam allowances just in case the dress needed to be altered again. Once trimmed, the fabric is gone forever. So, I left the extra fabric in the side seams, but still trimmed the shoulder strap, so it wouldn’t be too bulky.
It was fun to work on a dress without having to labor over it for 4 months and ignore my family for the last 2 weeks.
(Elly wanted in on the photo shoot).
Now to tackle the pile of jeans on my ironing board and the massive amount of fabric required for the curtains.
Sunday Snapshots (of serenading)
On the steps of the Pottstown Library, Elly spotted a man with a guitar. He was idly strumming while chatting with his friend.
Once he noticed that he had a captivated audience, he stepped up his game and started playing Run Around Sue.
Then, he asked what songs Elly wanted to hear. He started off by playing Twinkle Twinkle Little Star. Then, Elly really started to smile when he sang her favorite song, Mary Had a Little Lamb.
Such fun!
Next Sewing Project: Curtains
Winter is coming.
The lovely sheer curtains I made for the living room windows were great for the summer. They let in so much light.
They also let in a ton of warmth thanks to the southern exposure, but the AC worked hard to keep us cool.
Although the boiler could keep us warm in the winter, money could be saved if I added another layer or two to the windows. Plus, more curtains will keep me from uncontrollably shivering every time I glanced at the windows and saw only a thin layer of organza separating me from the ice and snow.
The fabric chosen for the living room coordinates with the red in my beloved fireplace.
Yet, the white background color keeps the curtains from being too dark, my main complaint of the original draperies.
The curtains will be lined with warm, heavy flannel. I’ve used flannel in all the previous window dressings made and it does a great job in blocking the bitter cold air that seeps in through the window panes.
Red grommets will be used to hang the curtains. I wanted something that would allow the curtains to be pulled aside easily and still look casual.
Now to go pick up my machine from the shop. After all the dress sewing, it was in need of a tune up.
The Shawl that Will Never be Finished
9 stitches were cast on to begin this shawl.
3 years later, it is only halfway complete. It takes me about a half an hour just to knit one round, since there are now 576 stitches on the needle.
The current band I am knitting is a sea of stockinette stitch. In other words, it is dreadfully boring. On the plus side, it was easy to pick back up after not knitting on it for over a year.
Maybe I’ll finish it before she gets married. (hysterical laughter)
The Life, Designs & Crafts of Marie Haigh 