The boys all get their own set of tools when they are 4. These tool sets and the projects that they have inspired have taken over much of my fireplace/den room. So for Christmas we bought the material and the boys helped to put together an area that, hopefully, will contain their creative mess. Jared designed it to be movable because we hope to one day carve out a spot in the garage for them when we build the mudroom.
Between Jared's one-week break from his two classes this Fall we spend two nights in a cabin on the James River. The sunsets over the soybean and peanut fields were stunning. We took the kids to Jamestown and Williamsburg as part of our history lessons for the year. Fewer than half the trades were open in Williamsburg, but we still enjoyed watching the ones that were around. The boys' definite favorites were the blacksmith, cabinet maker, printer, and wheelwright.
Since our trip our house has been turned into a print shop (which produced all the boys' Christmas cards and some of our tags for presents) and a wood working shop. They also found scrap metal pieces in the garage and banged away with their hammers until they had several trays created (which ended up being my Christmas present).
This Christmas Aldi was selling these adorable little Gnomes. They didn't look too hard to reproduce so I bought two (the last two they had in the store) and brought them home to study them. The first one I made took about 2 hours, but I got it down to almost an hour by making several at a time. These are the first four that I made and I failed to take pictures of any of the other ones.
We decided to name them after the dwarves from the Hobbit.
Thorin Oakenshield and Dane Ironfoot - We are keeping these two per the boys' request
Balin, Dwalin, - To my sister
Fíli, Kíli, - To my sister-in-law
Dori, Nori, Ori - To my sister
Óin, Glóin, - To two different friends
Bifur, Bofur, - Not made yet
Bombur - To my mother-in-law
And here is a little tree that I made for a friend. It was a fun project, but it took entirely too long to make more of them. The fabrics are all from projects that I have made for her in the past (an apron and quilt).
I sewed this little apron in a few hours the morning of a birthday party. The boys had picked out a cooking set for their cousin and while we were wrapping it I realized that an apron would be perfect to go with it. I love the ruffles on the bottom!
I am just now getting around to emptying photos off my phone. This summer we spent a lot of time at the beach. It is a lot of work to pack up four kids and all their stuff, but they love being outside and exploring. And we saw some amazing sunsets that reminded us of the glory and faithfulness of God.
I started this quilt two or three years ago and was about 1/4 of the way finished when I set it aside. I picked it up a few weeks ago, hoping to finish it in 30 days (by September 15th)... but other things have gotten in the way... mainly that my almost four year-old asked for a couple stuffed animals for his birthday and I have been working on making those. Pictures to come of those when I finish. And then maybe I will get back to this one. 22 of 30 squares are finished. It shouldn't take too long to finish the last few squares.
I made these burp clothes back in May for a friend. It was the only boy fabric that I had left in my stash, but thankfully, she loves dinosaurs.
