Week in Ramblings

I am thinking about the highlights of the week...I usually have a lot to blog about and think I will remember but then I forget!

Here are the few highlights I remember...

I sold another Doorway Puppet theater as well as two quilts this week! Very exiting! The Puppet Theater was sold on Ebay.I had it on the Buy Now option instead of the auction option.All in total I sold 4 puppet theaters.I have one left.Not bad!The two quilts were my first two sales on my Etsy shop.I am very exited.I also had a lady from Toronto ask about the It's Hip To Be Square quilt on my Etsy shop.Even if she ends up not purchasing it,it really is nice to have someone think it good enough inquire about at least.

I finished my quilt for Monday's Dragonfrye News Quilt Giveaway. I an VERY exited about it.I REALLY want to post it now but I will wait.I will give a hint,though...it is a little more boyish only because it is more on the blue side but it really can be for both baby boys or girls.If you are familiar with My BaZoople Friends you will really like my giveaway this month!

I have been spending a little bit more time on Facebook.It is pretty fun.It has been neat finding friends I haven't heard from for years.Some as far back as high school.Every once in a while I get a little blue thinking that my life is just ordinary and not as exiting as maybe I would have thought it would as I read all the exiting things my long lost friends have been up to.It passes quickly though.

Jeff worked his pizza job this past Tuesday and Thursday this week.I am getting used to being solo a few nights a week with the 14 children.It really isn't as horribly stressful as it sounds or as I thought it would be.I have been just doing things the way I do during the day.I think back to when we just has three kids and how horrified I was if Jeff had to be late getting home.I was SO stressed.Of course, the kids miss Jeff being home and being able to let loose.I am kind of more of a parent who likes quiet,no running around,clucking about chores,kind of more controlish and not as fun as their dad.Anyway,I tell the kids their dad working the pizza job is just for a short season...in the long run we will be glad.

Ok,I just heard this cute story.The kids were out Trick-or-Treating tonight and at one of the houses there was an older man in a wheel chair who was dressed as a pumpkin.He could not get to his door to pass out candy so he rigged a tube that he would instruct the kids to put their candy bags on one side of the tube and he would send the candy to them from his end.The older man was so pleased at his contraption.

The Costumes

Queen Grace and Tiger Joel



The boys from The Lord of The Rings
Josh,Nolan,Alan,and Grant



Close-up of Nolan's make-up



Princess Naomi and Princess Joyce



Queen Esther(sp?) Odell and Snow Queen Ekie



Lily the angel





Tinker Bell Anya and Tink's fairy friend Flora Elena



Tink



Camera Shy Lord of the Rings guy Cyrus



Indian Chief Jeff




Raggedy-Ann with her angel and queen

Has it been a whole week?

Pre-Halloween scene today...

The kids coloring their Trick-or-Treat bags





The costumes are ready for their owners

(P.S. do you notice our 'new' couch? Jeff found this the other day on his way home from his pizza job with a free sign on it!'Free' is a beautiful word these days!By the way it matches very well with our fireplace room.Isn't that just a God thing to do...I was not even thinking we needed a couch until Jeff brought it home.It is perfect for us!)



The cat found a comfy bed



Lily just being cute

Video of the Week!

How exiting that it is time for another Frye video of the week!

This video is called

'A Conversation with Joel'

Jeff took the kids to Cabela's Sunday afternoon.Cabela's is a HUGE sporting goods store not real far from our house.The store has a lot of 'skinned' (as Joyce described) animals that are stuffed to look like they are alive 'doing things' (another kid quote) like they would if they were really alive.You get the picture.In this weeks video Joel is describing what he saw.Towards the end of the video you will see Joel getting a little uncomfortable being 'watched' (as he would say) by the camera.

Sunday, October 26, 2008

I did get a few projects done this weekend. Thanks to Jeff for doing the majority of the parenting so I could disappear for a while.

As you might remember I am closing up my Dragonfryequilts.com shop. It is pretty pricey to have my own .com and I figure between Ebay,Etsy,and a few blog shops I can accomplish the same thing as my dragonfryquilts.com shop but MUCH cheaper! I did learn alot this past year though.I know how to work Paypal and am learning a little more about working with my computer paint program and photo bucket to make some fun images.So that being said here are my three new sites but you will recognise the few things I have listed already.What was REALLY fun was figuring out the look of each shop.

Here is my new

Dragonfrye Quilts

My second shop is the same name as my Etsy shop but has a few different things on it

My Little Dragonfrye

my third is

The Holidays On Dragonfrye Hill

It was hard to narrow things down to just a few shops because I move very quickly from one project to another that do not really seem to relate.I do know that I very much enjoy making quilts and those tiny tots are so fun to make things for!

********


In other fun news...it snowed up here in Minnesota today.Can you believe that!

I made a batch of homemade rice pudding today.SO good!It was daunting to think of making enough for all 16 of us so I just made a small amount and sat in my bedroom with a few of the kids and we ate it all!So good!Can rice pudding be declared a hot breakfast cereal?

*********

Do you ever have those moments that one of your children does something that totaly shocks you (not in a good shocking way) so much that you are rendered speechless for a while and then great sadness sets in?We had that happen this weekend.It began a few weeks ago on Anya's birthday.One of her gifts from us was a big bag of peanut m & ms.It was rapped but when it came time for her to open her gifts we could not find it.We had been looking and looking and finally bought her a replacement bag.

Forward to yesterday...

There was a rumor going around that a particular person had a bunch of peanut M & Ms under their bed about a week after Anya's birthday.The rumor also contained a claim that mom gave this person a special surprise and that was how the M & Ms got under the bed. Hmmm...

Within the rumor it was also said that this same child all of the sudden had been in possession of 18 cookies from the freezer which said person shared with fellow roommates claiming it was a gift from mom and dad but if the roommates told anyone else they would be in big trouble.

Now I know rumors can get out of hand and are not always true but these were huge rumors.I asked (very firmly )the child if this was true and the child denied the rumors.I pressed a little further and then yes the child said he/she was in possession of the goodies in question but they was given to her by another child.I pressed further and the tears started flowing like I had never seen on this child.The child even got on bended knee begging for forgiveness.Yes,it was true that child stole Anya's birthday M & Ms and the cookies with no help from anyone else.I am still in shock that the child would do that.What goes through my mind is were there smaller things that were taken that made these big things easier to take?It was this very child who was the first to notice Anya's gift was gone and looked very hard for it. I know we all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, even our children.We all need Christ's forgiveness.I know that.This child does not have Christ in his/her heart.This is pretty big.What if we handled It wrong?What if this type of behavior keeps happening?I am just so sad when I think about it.I do not want to put a label on this child and watch him/her like a hawk but maybe I do need to do that.What to do...

Homeschool HELP!!!

OK who can figure these problems out...

Solve.
1. y divided by 36 = 168/9-1
2. q divided by 22 = (9 + 51)/(8 - 5)


Write and solve.
1. The quotient of a number m and 12 is 12.
2. 20 times 7 is the same as k divided by 2.


I must have been asleep during the year I took pre-Algebra and then to have to explain how to do this to mu child is something! Lots of tears shed and pencils thrown today.OK, I promise not to throw pencils and cry so much it does distract from my teaching.

OK here is another question...is it REALLY important for my child to show his/her (anonymity is important you see) work?

Tuesday October 21, 2008

It is nice to be all snug at home on a chilly night!Jeff is working his pizza delivery job tonight so I made the perfect dinner for the kids. Homemade hot chocolate and cinnamon toast!Very tasty.All the kids were very exited.Toast with hot chocolate was a regular meal at my house growing up.Jeff has yet to appreciate all the tasty meals I grew up with.Here are a few...my ultimate favorite fried noodles and cabbage usually minus the cabbage but the cabbage makes it even better,dumplings and Worcestershire sauce,noodles and butter,and of course hot chocolate with toast.I am thinking after 15 years there is no reforming Jeff so I make these tasty meals for lunch or if Jeff is gone I make them for the evening meal.Jeff,you do not know what you are missing!

Movie of the Week!!!

Ok,any movie of Lily is cute so how could I decide...

Lily on the Chair with her cute bear



Minutes later,Lily is in her exersauser with her cute bear.This time she gives him a little baby kiss.SO CUTE!!!

Sunday, October 19, 2008

I did get a few things done this weekend!

What a clean fridge!



We finished up the Halloween costumes.Elena did an excellent job on her Fairy costume.She did some pretty tricky things like altered the pattern a little to get the look she wanted.We just had the cape pattern to work from and had to use our imagination a little to create a long skirt and matching top.Elena sewed almost the whole outfit even the shoulder part on the sleeves by herself.I showed her how to use different size dinner plates as patterns to get scalloped edges on the skirt and neckline.She learned the art of zigzagging the hem edges of her scallops to get a rolled hem.She is very proud.It is fun to watch the kids get exited and see their creativity.Even Grant and Alan sewed most of their own costumes.Wait until you see...but I will not post pictures until after Halloween.


When it was my turn to sew this afternoon I was able to quilt my It's Hit To Be Square quilt.I took a few pictures of it even though I was not able to put the binding on as of yet.My other quilts will wait until a future weekend.










The sweetest picture for last...



PS. Did I mention one of our toilets overflowed two times this weekend? I have one sweet little girl who is now afraid to go poop in the toilet.Poor girl.

It works!

As you might recall our refrigerate has not been working for the past month or so.The freezer was over freezing and the fridge was not getting cold.We have been getting used to managing our family food needs using a little dorm fridge.About a year ago our big fridge had the same symptoms and we paid a repair man a little over $100 dollars to come and fix it.Did not have the money to do that this time around.What to do...A friend thought maybe I should try defrosting the freezer part and see what happens! Well I did and now like magic our fridge is cooling again! Well,I feel silly for not figuring this whole thing out sooner! One thing I did learn this past month was even a family of 16 does not REALLY need a big fridge full of food to eat well.I wonder how many more things I can fix around the house...

Today...

I finished up with most of my back posts.I guess there were not as many to put on as I thought!My life is rather dull at times.I still need to do our Waseca Marching Classic Parade post.Elena was the photographer and took some great pictures.

I decided I enjoy making baby fabric books.There are so many different books out there.I have a few Christmas and a few general baby ones on my Dragonfrye Quilts site.I ran across a few other cute fabric book panels on Ebay that I 'won'.I saw a few real neat Australian fabric book panels that were REAL neat but very expensive.I will admire those ones from afar.One of my zillions of craft goals will be to try my hand at a soft fabric busy book.One with snaps and buttons,or maybe an ABC one.

On my sewing plate this weekend is to finish up a few Halloween costumes for the kids.I have just two more capes to make and a fairy costume.Anya is Tinkerbell and Elena is going to be Tinkerbell's friend so actually Elena will make the fairy costume I will supervise just a little.Elena is very good at her sewing.Elena has been a great help with the costume making.Most of the boys made their own costumes and some of the younger kids are wearing costumes from previous years.Sop my sewing skills have not been needed as much as they have other years.

If I get the capes done I have a few quilts waiting to be quilted.I have a log cabin Christmas quilt,a quilt called 'Hip to Be Square' that I made a few weeks back,and a few baby whole cloth quilts.Hmmm....my project list seems to be longer than the time I have.

I already have a great quilt planned for my November quilt giveaway.If it turns out the way I imagine it will (which is usually a hit or miss type of thing) it will be very pretty.

Tomorrow Jeff and the kids have 8 paper routes to do!The kids picked up a sixth permanent route and Jeff picked up two of his own.Jeff thought it would be good exercise and the two route locations were close to our house so he thought that when the bigger boys were old enough to do a whole route by themselves they could each take one.Right now the kids all share the six routes.It is not bad work for the kids.We dropped allowance once our family got bigger and the paper routes give the kids some spending money.I believe the 5 biggest kids earn about $17.00 each a month and the younger ones earn less but soon Nolan and Josh will be doing as much as the bigger kids.It won't be long before we deliver The Waseca Shopper to all of Waseca!

Here I Am!

I know I have not blogged much this past month.I did not realize how much time actually passed.I plan on back posting a few things in the next few days.There were some fun things like the Waseca Homecoming Parade and the Waseca Marching Band Classic Parade,Anya's birthday,and a few other fun things!

For some reason I just could not sleep last night so here I am at 7:40 in the morning.I think it will be a long day.I did make use of my sleepless night and put a bunch of things on my Etsy Shop.Grant and Alan have been working hard painting pictures so I gave them a little 'corner' of My Little Dragonfrye to set up their own art shop.They were exited to see their paintings on the computer.

Etsy Buy Handmade dragonfrye

What's Going On Here?

Lily,why are the kids all SO quiet today?

Happy 6th Birthday Anya!!!!

Anya, I love you SO SO much my little princess girl!

Anya's birthday spot!

The birthday table.We are all anxiously waiting for Anya and her dad to come home from their birthday date at Pizza Ranch.

Anya's bunny cake

...Happy Birthday to Anya.Happy Birthday to you!!

Anya's gifts

Good-Bye Uncle Avery.We Will Miss You!!!

In Memory of

Avery A Hall

August 23, 1918 to October 7, 2008

God looked around his garden
And he found an empty place,
He then looked down upon this earth,
And saw your tired face.
He put his arms around you
And lifted you to rest.
God's garden must be beautiful
He always takes the best.
He knew you were suffering,
He knew you were in pain,
He knew you would never
Get well on earth again.
He saw the road was getting rough,
And the hills were hard to climb.
So he closed your weary eyelids,
And whispered, "Peace be Thine."
It broke our hearts to lose you
But you didn't go alone
For part of us went with you
The day God called you home.*

Uncle Avery will be very missed by us all.




*This poem was from Uncle Avery's Memorial service.

Movie of the Week!!!

Cute little movie of Joel and Grace singing to Lily. It is a pretty accurate demonstration of how our 'twins' interact with each other.

And The Winner Is...

The winner of my October Dragonfrye News Quilt Giveaway is...


Carol of libertythreads!!!


Thank you Carol and everyone who took the time to enter my Dragonfrye News October Quilt giveaway!

I would like to say a special Thank You to Debi who organised Fall into Fall Quilter's Blog Giveaway and her kindness with including my blog giveaway on her site.

Debi is hosting Whirl into Winter in January so stay tuned!! There will be a lot of fun giveaways!



Also my next Dragonfrye News Quilt Giveaway starts November 3rd so don't forget to check back and enter!

Video of the Week!

We all enjoy a little ladybug hunting on a nice fall day!



And what mom doesn't let her baby girl play with bricks!

October Dragonfrye Quilts Drawing!

I have the privilege to have my quilt drawing included in
Fall into Fall Quilters Blog Giveaway! After you take a moment to enter my drawing stop by Fall into Fall Quilters Blog Giveaway because there are links to a lot of other quilters blogs who are having giveaways between now and October 15Th. There are a lot of fun giveaways!

On to my giveaway!



Here it is...

My Dragonfrye Quilts Free Quilt Drawing for October

If you are interested in entering my quilt drawing all you need to do it either leave a comment below or email me at waseca9@yahoo.com requesting to be entered.Please leave an email address that I can contact you if you are the winner. That is it!

I will leave the drawing entry open until midnight Saturday, October 11, 2008. I will draw a winner Sunday and post the winner on this blog Sunday evening or Monday.I will also email the winner to get a mailing address.

As with all my quilt drawings past winners,extended family,and all ages can enter.

Good Luck!

My Little Cowboy

This quilt is perfect for the little cowboy in your life.

Measures about 37 x 52

I used Warm & Natural batting and quilted in the ditch by machine.

The backing is light tan with navy blue stars