The Sewing Academy, Liz Clark

This is the AMAZING Elizabeth Stewart Clark

and I had the opportunity to attend a few of her incredible classes over the weekend.

She is the go to gal for 1840 to1870 clothing.

Well, actually she knows more than just the mid 1800s time period, but that is what she teaches people.

What a treat it was to learn that I have been attaching gauged skirts to their waistbands incorrectly for 3 years and the process can actually be MUCH easier than I have been making it, along with a handful of other fantastic tricks I have been missing out on.

It was such a great time!  I can not express how much I adore Liz Clark and was so happy to meet her and hear her in person.

Go have a peek at her website.

embroidery

I have been working on a civil war dress for myself, and a few quilt tops, and since Kenna sleeps in the sewing room, or if you want to rephrase that to 'the sewing explosion is in Kenna's room,' I don't get to sew after the sweet lass is in bed at night or during naps.  So the other day I brought my machine and a few projects into the living room.  Kendal has been so interested in sewing lately, and when I was doing some handwork with the skirt, she asked if she could sew.

So, I got a few pieces of muslin and had her and Emmitt draw a simple little picture on them.  A flower and a house is what we ended up with.  I got out the embroidery hoops, thread, and needles, and they both went to town.  They LOVED it.

It kept Emmitt busy for about 3 minutes, and Kendal busy for about 3 hours.  Kendal felt the need over the past few days to complete Emmitt's as well.  He didn't like that idea, so I picked out her stitches and he has been working on his off and on, mostly off.  I have been waiting for the day for Kendal so show some interest in sewing, and it finally came!  I am one happy mom.  I think she will have quite a few little embroidery projects completed soon.  

Kenna cracks me up in these pictures.  She loves being with the big kids.

Two red and white quilts, a century apart

Well, side by side - there they are!  The one on the left is a quilt that my dad received when his mother, my Grandma Lela, passed away a handful of years ago.  I have loved it since then.  I never saw it before my dad acquired it.  I had this idea this past winter that I wanted to reproduce it.  So I did.  I finally got it back from the quilter last week, and even though it is not bound, I had to lay them both out and take a few pictures. The one of the right is the one I made.

It was such an enjoyable project.  The entire time I made it, I thought of my Grandma Lela, even when I was picking out the fabric.  Notice that I even copied the HOLY SMOKES BUBBLEGUM PINK backing fabric.  Well, as close to the same color as I could find anyway.  So, I had thoughts of my grandma while sewing this quilt top, then I found out from a few uncles and aunts that my grandma probably didn't even make this quilt.  Those aunts and uncles remember this quilt on the bed at THEIR grandmother's home in Pleasant Grove while growing up.  My uncle says that she, my great grandmother Diantha, wasn't much of a quilter, so he thinks her mother might have made it and given it to her.  If that is so, my great great grandmother Annie Christianna Rasmussen Sorensen, born in 1871 in the Salt Lake Valley, made the quilt.

I am such a history lover, and a super sentimental person, and of course a quilt lover, so despite whomever made the quilt, I feel a deep love and appreciation to the amazing women that are a part of my grandma's maternal line.  My mind turns to them when I see their quilt, and the one I made as well. 
Here it is just laid out on my bed today.  I think it will live there one day, but not while I have many small children that LOVE to be on my bed and seem to have all sorts of dirtiness that the white fabric would love to take from them.  I will get it bound of course as well.  Yesterday was my Grandma Lela's 98th birthday.  Happy Birthday Grandma.

Bat Cave

According to the STATS page on this blog, lots of folks visit my dutch bed post.  

It has had 3954 page views as of today.

I guess there are quite a few people wanting to make a dutch bed, and they google "dutch bed" or "cupboard bed" and my blog comes up as a hit.

If you want to see the post that explains my dutch bed brain child, visit here.  Dutch bed post

Emmitt and Kendal now share the room downstairs and last month we moved Emmitt into the dutch bed.  He calls it his BAT CAVE since superheros seem to constantly run through his little mind.

I took down the purple curtains, made some black ones, and Kelsey made him a Batman pillow for his birthday last month that he adores.  Simple enough - Bat Cave.

The end of his bed is not as organized as Kelsey or Kendal keep it when they sleep here, but it is his space and all is well.  He got an actual bat cave superhero-playhouse thing for Christmas that is usually at the end of his bed, but when I took this picture the other day, it was on the floor with Shaggy and Scooby Doo and of course Batman, participating in some adventure. 

Hooray for the Bat Cave Bed!

When I made that dutch bed, I had no idea it would be a bat cave one day.

Highbury flats

 This incredible gal from American Duchess has once again made some incredible footwear.

 These delicious Regency Era slippers, called Highbury that I adore!  I think they would look great with

 this Sarah Thornton Coleman Regency dress I made, as well as the Regency ball gown I am going to make as soon as I finish all the other projects on my sewing table.  Ha ha ha ha.

No, really!

 I just love love love this painting titled A Summer Shower by Charles Edward Perugini.  Look at their delicate slippers and gorgeous dresses!

Visit  http://americanduchess.blogspot.com/ and see all the great things she has been up to, as well as enter in the Highbury shoe giveaway!

I think its a coop

They thought it was a stage.  Their very own stage for dancing and singing.

Boy did she dance and sing!

Then all the boards that were too long were cut off, and the framing for the walls went up.  

They thought it was fun, just super fun, even though it was cold.

They thought their Grandpa was so tricky, and Grandma too, because Grandma was the one that wrote on two little white pieces of paper and Grandpa hung them up with nails on each end.  

One said "playhouse" and the other said "chicken coop."

When the walls started to get put up, they thought it was warm, because it blocked the wind.

Even though Kenna felt horrible and was sick, she thought it was great fun to watch as well.

I think my parents are both amazing.  I think my dad is incredible.
I think my mom is fantastic.

Kendal thought that the the first little room was made especially for her, rather than storage for the chicken supplies; although it may also double as the coveted playhouse and bat cave.

 I thought it was great to hang out with my dad and run his chop saw.

Emmitt thought the windows were awesome and loved that one was right at his level.

I think the new chicken coop I have wanted for a couple of  years is going to turn out great.  

It will be worth the wait.

My dad sent me a picture of the completed coop yesterday.  We had to leave before it was completed.  He added the roof, the doors (with a sweet antler handle), the roost, and the boxes.
I made a post last winter about the coop I wanted my dad to make for me here. 
This one he made is much more amazing.

He is going to bring it up in a few weeks.  I can't wait!

Thanks DAD!  I think you are wonderful!

Easter at the Ranch

When I was a little girl, if you asked me what my favorite holiday was, it would have been really hard for me to decide between Christmas and Easter.  Really hard decision.  I have always loved Easter.  It is the first big outing of the year with family and lots of picnicing food, and you can get dirty as dirty and it doesn't matter.  Some of my most memorable times are with my cousins and siblings at Easter. 

I still love Easter for those reasons, although now I also recognize the reason for Easter is to celebrate the Savior's triumph over the tomb.  What a wonderful celebration - a new birth, the resurrection, and the wonderful atonement of our Savior Jesus Christ.

So for Easter this year, on Saturday the Crane Clan headed up to the ranch and spent the afternoon doing the things  I love and remember about Easter as a child.  It was a perfect Easter weekend in my eyes.  Some of those things are

rolling Easter eggs down the hill with the littler kids

having the older kids join the younger kids roll eggs, get bored, and then start an egg fight

adults have a conversation about who has the best throwing arm and aim, as we watch from not too far away

contests where the adults enter into competition with the teenagers and show them up

4 wheeling

keeping the babies out of the cactus and pricklies

root beer smiles

older kids involving the uncles in the egg fight and then regretting it

big splash as the ringleader gets rebaptized in the ditch

fun with cousins, the first best friends

Easter egg hunt

sunshine on my face, being with those I love

overflowing Easter baskets

baby's first touch of pasture grass (not very soft this time of year)

eating a delicious potluck picnic

the best memories with cousins