The trouble with photographing Etsy shop items...

...is that I don't always have a good model. For something like the quilts, I can rope in Mom or the backyard playground. But for baby headbands, I can't use either, so I use a TV tray. It works, but it's not as good for showing how the headband can be worn. I'd borrow a kid from church of my cousin's kids, but either they're too old or too far away. (Sara would probably gladly lend me her baby for a while...But I don't want to travel across the state and into another one for a five minute photograph session. It doesn't quite make sense.) So I'll keep using the TV tray until I find a baby the right age to borrow (and a parent willing to lend the kid).

the playground modeling the Creatures and Critters quilt

Mom modeling the raggedy flower quilt

the TV tray modeling the pink baby headband

Pretty, Happy, Funny, Real

Pretty

I generally spend my time making pretty stuff like this:

(And doing school and cleaning, but mostly in the summer I sew.)

Happy

Unrelated to sewing, the Lutheran online school I go to is going to do Matins, Vespers, and Compline on Wednesdays through the school year. I'm really happy about that. I try to do them on my own, but forget...a lot.

Funny

My super fancy quilt block storing system. (I also keep finished things in plastic Wal-Mart bags.) And the previous label is scratched out because I finished that quilt top.

Real

This is what the sewing room looks like after I've been in it.

But it gets cleaned up at the end of the day and messed up again the next. (Sometimes it looks worse.)

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Stitched in Color Mosaic Contest

I'm entering the Stitched in Color mosaic contest here: http://www.stitchedincolor.com/2013/07/clashy-bright-mosaic-contest.html.

Here're my mosaics.

1.

2.

Etsy Shop

Everything in the Etsy shop I either knit or sew all by myself. I make quilts, doll blankets, headbands, scarves, cat toys shaped like whales, and dishcloths right now, but am going to add more things soon. The point of the shop is to earn money for college. (Right now, I'm still spending all of my allowance every month of getting supplies to make stuff, but it might start earning money sometime.)

I use almost every part of the supplies I get. Extra yarn from dishcloths are turned into headbands and whale cat toys. Left-over yarn from scarves are turned into fringe for the scarf or yarn markers. Scraps of fabric that from quilts and doll blankets are used to make more quilts. Batting scraps are harder to use again because I have to sew the edges together and that leaves a big, clunky seam. Quilts, dishcloths, headbands, and whale cat toys are all made from cotton fabric or yarn. The cat toys are stuffed with polyfill and the quilt batting is polyester. Scarves are made from whatever yarn I like and can afford.

Doll blankets take the least amount of time to make (about forty-five minutes). The things that take the next-shortest amount of time to make are the headbands and cat toys. They take anywhere from 1-5 hours to knit. Dishcloths take about five hours to knit (15 hours for a set). Scarves come next and can take up to 50 hours to knit, depending on how hard the pattern is, how thick the yarn is, and how long I'm making them. Quilts vary. A machine quilted quilt normally takes about 100 hours to make, including washing, drying, and ironing the fabric before beginning then washing and drying the quilt after making. A handquilted quilt takes more like 300 to 500 hours to make, depending on how much quilting there is.

Summer School

I'm doing most of my school this summer in July. I'm doing marine biology, geography, Latin, Greek, math, and Classical Mythology. Most of the time, I'm going to do school on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday. Math might over-lap sometimes. And I'm doing everything except math of my own accord. Mom would have me do the subjects anyway, so I might as well do them now.

Marine biology--Apologia's textbook. It's the last science credit I need in high school, so I'm getting it over with. (Science is better than math, but is still not as good as other stuff.) I'm doing most of the labs, all of the study guides, and the On Your Own Questions. There are 16 modules and I'm doing one module every day three days a week.
Geography--a Bob Jones University textbook. I'm ok on finding most countries (Africa is hard), but don't know much other than that. And I can already read a road map. But, I'm reading the textbook again (I read it a long time ago) and doing the review questions. There are 25 chapters and I'm doing two chapters every day.
Latin--Lingua Latina. Dad uses this book whenever he teaches Latin. We have somewhere around five copies floating around. (They're the old orange ones that have been replaced with brown. Shucks.) All of the books I have belonged to Lizzie and they have helpful notes written in the margins. I don't know how far we'll go this summer.
Greek--the Machen book. I'm re-reading it and practicing identifying words. There are 34 chapters and I'm doing two chapters every day.
math--Math-U-See with Justin. I do whatever Justin tells me to do in this.
Classical Mythology--lectures by Elizabeth Vandiver. I found them on sale from the Teaching Company and Dad had ten bonus bucks (or whatever the Teaching Company calls them). They costed about 25 dollars, which is really, really good for Teaching Company lectures. (Normally, they're somewhere in the hundreds.) I'm writing papers on Theogony, Hymn to Demeter, Roman myths and fables, the Eleusinian Mysteries, Ovid, and the Trojan War. I'm doing one paper a day, which I know I can do because I did it when I took Paideia and ProGymn at the same time.

Pretty, Happy, Funny, Real

Pretty

Grandma and Grandpa had their 55th anniversary this month, so they got Uncle Peter, Aunt Dawn, Dad, Mom, Lizzie, Justin, Arane, and me together all at the same time at their house. (It's harder than it sounds. Uncle Peter and Aunt dawn live way over on the west coast.) Lizzie made the collage and did the balloons and I did the banner. (Actually, I typed it, printed it out, and hole punched it, then Lizzie strung it up.) All that decorating was done in secret in the middle of the night.

Happy

Here are more pictures from the trip.

That green-pink-yellow-blue toy is either a walker or a thingy. You can press a button and turn it into a walker. Arane can use it when it's in walker form, but not when it's the thingy. She would run all over the place with it.

Funny

That's what stuff on the line looks like when it's not very windy. (That day really wasn't very windy. The patio table umbrella wasn't revolving like it sometimes does.)

Real

I have an Etsy shop here: http://www.etsy.com/shop/InglesideCreations?ref=si_shop. It's only got twelve things in it, but I have more stuff made and just need to photograph them. I've finished another scarf and am knitting some cat toys (made of out scraps from dishcloths). Also, I have three quilts being finished (two baby quilts and one lap).

Here are some pictures of things in the shop.

 Doll blanket (fits an 18-inch doll)

Dishcloth set (can survive going through the garbage disposal)

Scuffy the Tugboat wall-hanging (has metal D-rings on the back for hanging)

Go here for more Pretty, Happy, Funny, Real posts: www.ourmothersdaughters.blogspot.com

Pretty, Happy, Funny, Real

Pretty

I made these to sell on Etsy. (I'm going to set up a shop in late June.) Two are medium yellow and one is bright orange.

Happy

Arie has six teeth! And she can whoop like an Indian and looooooves bannanas. She's getting accomplished.

Real

I almost always manage to cook things that are edible and look like they will be when they're cooking. (Except for beans. Beans don't work, even when Lizzie helps me, and she's great with beans.)

But, a couple weeks ago, I spilled olive oil from baking potatoes in the oven and it smoked a ton. I sat down in front of the oven to make sure that if/when the oil did catch fire, I would see it and holler for Mom to come put it out. This is what the growlery looked like after the smoke detectors went off, windows opened, and the fan got turned on.

Go here for more Pretty, Happy, Funny, Real posts: www.ourmothersdaughters.blogspot.com