July | 2012 | Abiding in the True Vine

Archive for July, 2012

4-H Fashion

July 30, 2012 · Filed under 4-H, Whole Life Crafting

The big clothing entry day for 2012 has come and gone. I have muchas fotografias. Are you ready?

Remember this outfit?

Its stylist got an award. (Although you can probably barely see her in this annoying unedited photo.)

Is this any better? Probably not.

Okay, okay. I will try to spare you any more poorly lit stage shots. But I’m not promising.

Bug crocheted and styled these fingerless gloves.

Eleanor modeled her Clothing 2 skirt, jacket and blouse that she sewed. I love that bow!

Anyone who knows Lydia knows that she has loved mustaches for a very, very long time. I think it is rockin’ awesome that all of the mustache love is being spread around (my jaw dropped to the floor when I saw all of the mustache love stuff at Claire’s). So does Lydia. So, she made this shirt for her Decorate Your Duds project using washable glue and acrylic paint.

Harriet tired of watching styling, so she took a little break on the slide.

While Edmund chilled out and grinned.

Meanwhile, back at styling…Margaret sewed this swingy black dress and purple shrug for Clothing 2.

She even made a necklace, earrings and a bracelet to accessorize her outfit.

Eleanor drastically improved her Decorate Your Duds project from Designer Camp by adding an empire waist and some embroidery to her jumper.

And because Margaret wasn’t able to salvage her Designer Camp project, she got an idea for her Decorate Your Duds garment from Pinterest. I think it turned out pretty cute!

Aren’t our 4-Hers generously supported by family and friends who gladly and intently sit through the 4-H Fashion Show?

And who do they see? Lydia! (Oops, sorry. I never promised that I wouldn’t burden you with another poorly lit, distant stage shot, right?)

And Margaret and Eleanor. With the purple ribbon stylists.

There’s Margaret, again.

And so the 4-H Fashion Show comes to an end, once more. But, wait? Who is this? Oh, yes. The muscle behind all of this 4-H sewing action. Because these projects would not have been what they are without Amelia’s sewing expertise, guidance and patience. And Clara’s overall support.

And, NOW, we call it a day. A successful 4-H clothing entry day. And we’ve only just begun….

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A Little Road Trip

July 28, 2012 · Filed under Whole Life Crafting

Last Sunday afternoon, Tim and I decided to hit the road for a change of scenery. Everyone else was contentedly occupied, so we just waltzed out the door to parts unknown. Well, we had a general direction in which we were headed, so the parts weren’t entirely unknown, but, still…. We were in search of some of these:

And we found them here:

And here:

Via this:

Then, we enjoyed the heck out of driving through this:

Until we failed to make a turn and ended up eating this:

I love spontaneous road trips!

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You’re Still the One

July 25, 2012 · Filed under Whole Life Crafting

Instead of regularly scheduled Art Night last week, Joey and I took off for a little anniversary celebration. Yes, all of the big kids took over our responsibilities so we could celebrate 30 years of marriage. THIRTY YEARS! How can we be old enough to be married for thirty years? I still can’t really wrap my mind around that. But the celebrating was fun!

First, since this all started in Texas, we ate supper at Texas Roadhouse, where Joey had catfish in honor of our honeymooning in Jefferson and eating catfish.

Then, we went to a concert.

It was an outdoor concert. A very warm outdoor concert. A very warm outdoor concert featuring this guy:

Yep, Ronnie Milsap! He definitely provided some of the background music of our early marriage. We got to see him at the Hall of Fame and the Houston Livestock Show way-back-when, too. So, it was super-appropriate and fun to see and hear him again on our anniversary.

Life is absolutely crazy. Absolutely. Crazy. And not getting any calmer as time goes by. But I’m glad to have been sharing 30 years of it with Joey.

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Triple Birthday Celebration

July 24, 2012 · Filed under Whole Life Crafting

Since I was out of town when Margaret’s birthday rolled around, we combined her “cake party” with Eleanor’s and Harriet’s. I am so grateful for these sweet girls in my life. I’m so happy to celebrate with them! (And it’s nice to have all of the tools to be able to decorate each of their cakes according to their requests!)

4-H Season Has Begun

July 23, 2012 · Filed under 4-H, Whole Life Crafting

Yes, 4-H season is upon us. So as not to overwhelm you with too much 4-H in any one post, I’ll start feeding it to you in small bites. The first course will be a sneak peek at Eleanor’s and Margaret’s Consumer Management clothing buying projects. They each purchased these entire outfits, including accessories, with attention to quality of construction, fit, wearability, etc. They compiled the information about the outfits in notebooks that they have already turned in for judging, thanks to Amelia!

Margaret’s 4-H shopping trip was combined with a special birthday celebration day with her friend, Vanessa, Grammy and the big sisters (plus, me, of course). We got energy for our long day of shopping by eating at the Thai restaurant, first.

The nieces were a big help in picking out clothing. Can’t you tell?

Tim also participated in this clothing buying project. Perhaps that will be the next 4-H post? Or perhaps not? Stay tuned….

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Running with the Family

July 22, 2012 · Filed under Whole Life Crafting

Paula and Mom got behind the idea that we should participate in the Crazy Days 5K Run and Walk multi-generationally. So, Mom got us all registered. Paula made the shirts and bought the serious party hats. And Amelia, Clara and I showed up. Well, Amelia and Clara showed up after running on a regular basis in preparation for this event. I bought some new running shoes and showed up.

But, we had a blast (especially sporting the Grama Betz-inspired traditional Crazy Days umbrella hats!). And we survived! AND I even won a 2nd place medal in my age and gender category. Go figure!

(And, all joking aside, while I knew that my Jazzercise and former running experience would see me through without having any other preparation, my participation in an official 5K made me really miss running regularly. I hope that my knee can hold out and I can begin running some more. And maybe even participating in some more multi-generational running events!)

Levi also won a medal in the 10 mile bike ride event!

Being the inspiring trackster that he was (“Run fast, turn left!”), Dad would have loved this big idea!

Couples’ Art Night

July 21, 2012 · Filed under Art Night

Since Stephen was able to join us, we dubbed our evening, “Couples’ Art Night.” And it looks like he will be able to join us every Art Night very soon when he begins his new position at work. Now, let’s just hope that Levi’s new work hours are compatible with Couples’ Art Night after he graduates in a couple of weeks! Aaannnyyway…we were emulating Paul Klee with a modified technique this week from Carla Sonheim’s Drawing Lab for Mixed-Media Artists: 52 Creative Exercises to Make Drawing Fun. We placed carbon paper over water color paper and drew rabbits with our fingernails (please don’t remind Joey of this if you see him…for some reason, he hates the feeling and sound of fingernails on paper and he had to work up his gumption to get his rabbit drawn). It was a bit of an exercise in blind drawing since we weren’t quite sure how the drawing was transferring. Then, we revealed the drawings and colored them with media of our choice.

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Family Fun FUN!

July 18, 2012 · Filed under The Happy Day Project, Whole Life Crafting

I am so excited that our little Happy Day Project #2: Drop It, Do It, was mentioned in the August issue of Family Fun magazine! Whoop!!

If any of you fellow Family Fun fans are dropping by, leave a comment!

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July Ten on Ten

July 10, 2012 · Filed under Ten on Ten

Ten photos in ten consecutive hours on July 10, 2012. Thanks to Rebekah at A Bit of Sunshine for the inspiration, as always!

1. My 4:15am appointment with the Word (and what got my attention today was that Jesus’ soul was deeply grieved to the point of death…there’s nothing that I might experience with which He is not familiar); 2. Little wheat kernels about to be milled into flour for muffins; 3. Tim, the professional doughnut glazer; 4. Sweet potato-ginger muffins made with the freshly ground flour; 5. My very bubbly sponge for bread; 6. Harriet, our little bakery taste-tester; 7. Hmm…wonder what we’re brewing up at the bakery this morning? 8. Birthday Girl!!!! She’s actually 12 years old today! 9. We made A LOT of progress on the work-in-progress bakery basement project (consider this a “before” picture); 10. Yummy, warm bread from my earlier sponge.

Take a Stitch Tuesday: Bonnet Stitch

July 8, 2012 · Filed under Embroidery, TAST, TAST

Week 27 of TAST involved the Bonnet Stitch. I was again pleasantly suprised at how accomodating this stitch was when it came to filling letters. I’m glad that my stitch sampler is something that I plan to hang on my wall when it is finished so I can constantly refer to these surprising stitches.