Glasses Found!

Wonder of wonders, the eye glasses that the wind blew away two weeks ago were found this morning, in a pile of wood chips. They actually weren't too far from where they started, but we sure couldn't find them. Some guests at our house found them when they were out doing some work for us. They were dirty, but not damaged. Of course, they were found after my husband had already been in to have some new ones made. They will be great back up glasses now.

Take a Winter Wildflower Walk

To get ready for next weeks theme, plan a walk for sometime in the next few days to a natural area, and take your camera. While you are out walking, look for some evidence of the wildflowers of last summer, or the wildflowers that will come when the weather warms. Have the children in your life come along and help you search. While you are out walking take time to look for the little beauties that we normally pass by. You might find some treasures such as dry seed heads, colorful sticks, grasses and such to bring home and put in a vase. Look for cones from conifer cones, such as pine cones or fir cones or spruce cones, because they are also like the flowers of the tree, part of the pollination and seed making process. Once you are home you could decorate a little table in celebration of winter. Here is a winter table that Tiny Happy set up in her home in Norway. If you set up a winter table at your house, be sure to blog about it and link up with the Mister Linky.

I walked around our property today and photographed what I could find. Seed heads and colorful stalks caught my eye. I found some rosettes of leaves, waiting for spring. Weather allowing, we hope to go for a walk in a more wild park tomorrow.

Orange Thai Flower

Flower photographed in Thailand. I really don't know if it truly is a wildflower, but it is beautiful. I'm not sure what kind it is either.

To see a World in a Grain of Sand
And a Heaven in a Wild Flower,
Hold Infinity in the palm of your hand
And Eternity in an hour.

-William Blake

Coral Root Orchid

Coral root Orchid, Mt. Rainier National Park, Washinton
"The life of Christ in you produces the same fruits as in Him. Living in Christ, adhering to Christ supported by Christ, drawing nourishment from Christ, you bear fruit after the simlitude of Christ."

The Desire of Ages, page 668

Grateful

Yesterday when I arrived home from some errands, I found a lovely gift waiting at my door from my dear friend, J. I was so surprised and delighted, for when I opened the package, there was a true gift of friendship. I have admired Willow Tree figurines before but never owned one myself. J knew which one would bring me such a big smile. It is called "Gratitude", and it's perfectly "me", hands full of wildflowers (I think they might be black-eyed Susans or sunflowers), a lovely dress, and bun in her brown hair. But the thing I like most is the peace, thankfulness, grace and love she conveys.

Thank you so much for such a special gift, J.

Lupine Love

Lupines on Huricane Ridge, Olympic National Park, Washington

"Follow the way of love..." 1 Corinthians 14:1

Nothing "in all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord." Romans 8:39

Wildflowers in Winter - Favorite Wildflower Photo

Hurricane Ridge, Olympic National Park, Washington

When you are out in nature, do you ever find yourself stopping to photograph the wildflowers?

If so, look back through your files and find one or more to share with us this week. Post them on your blog, tell us anything your can about them, like where and when they were taken, and what they are called. (If you don't know their names, I might be able to help.) Be sure to copy the Wildflowers in Winter Photo onto your blog, and give the link to this page so others can participate. Then come back to my blog and enter your blog in Mr. Linky at the bottom of this page. Each blog post you make and enter in Mr. Linky will be another chance for you to win a Wildflower Note Card set made by me. Kids who have their own blog, and a wildflower photo may also participate.

This weeks' theme will be open for entries until January 22 (though late entries are welcomed until March 12).

Next weeks theme will be Wildflowers in Winter, a winter image of the remnants of flowers in your area. So be on the lookout for the beautiful evidence of last seasons wildflowers. Look at this website for some ideas and information about wildflowers in winter.

Family Skating

Just before Christmas my kids got to go ice skating for the first time. Some friends also got to go at the same time. After the first difficulites of learning how to move around on ice, and let go of the wall, the kids were soon moving confidently around the oval skating path. At first I was hesitant to go out on the ice myself. I hadn't been on ice since college days. But the kids needed me, so I got some skates and started out myself, a little fearful of how a fall would feel to my now older body.
But it wasn't long until I was helping kids around the rink. My kids were surprised that I could skate. I can't do anything fancy, but I can move around and didn't fall down once that day. They were really surprised to learned that I had learned to skate on frozen ponds back when I was a little girl.
My mom dug around in her photos and came up with this one, to prove to my kids the truth of the story. This was taken when I was 10 years old on a pond in Idaho. We had gone there to visit grandma on Christmas, and conditions were perfect.

I remember when I was a girl there were lots of used skates around to use. Mom would scoop them up at second hand stores, or they were given to us so we had a full selection of sizes for growing feet.

At one point we moved away from Idaho to a place where ponds don't freeze very often. But one year something really special happened that gave us a reason to use the old skates. The lake froze over good and hard. It seems we were out there skating as often as we could before it melted. And one night we had a skating party on the lake, complete with a bonfire on the ice. I can hardly remember a more magical evening. Friends who didn't have skates slipped around in their rubber boots. That evening turned into one of my treasured childhood memories, that my kids helped me remember.

We don't have a pond to skate on here, or a closet of skates, but we do have a little skating rink, and know it is going to provide many evenings of family fun in the future.

Sailboat Covered

We have really been enjoying heat, lights and water this last week, since the power came on last Sunday, one week ago. In this past week there has been so much to do. In one of the storm pictures you could see a blue tarp whipping around in the gusts, no longer protecting the sailboat underneath. We cleaned the water out of the sailboat, and it now has a new improved covering - two cargo nets covering a tarp, and lots of rope. It will be a chore untying the thing come summer, but the wind shouldn't do it for us first, without taking the whole boat and trailer with it.

We have done a full week of homeschool, now since the end of Christmas vacation. It was really hard for the kids to get back onto the routine, but by the end of the week, it was feeling really good. Forest has made a big leap of confidence in his reading skills. He's eight now, and I am starting to think that eight is an important age for boys who aren't quick to learn reading. Because reading seems to be less of a struggle, other subjects seem to be coming along better too. Emily Rose has been telling me that math is boring and getting too hard, but then she told me this week that it was actually getting interesting too. I'd love to figure out how to really like the learning love fire under her. She is capable of so much, but can wallow herself down in disagreeable thoughts so quickly, so she looses her will to even try. She is making progress though. She still loves reading, vocabulary, and geography best of all her subjects.

I am hoping that this week I can get all those Christmas decorations back into their boxes for another year. I hope I'm not the last one to do this.

Gluten-free Oat Corn Waffles

Are you hungry for waffles? Before being gluten free, I made waffles with a mix out of a bag. I really didn't know much about making waffles, and didn't make them that often. After being gluten free, I found some pre-made toaster waffles in the freezer section of the store that we liked, because they were so easy. But when my resolve grew to eat more nutritious foods, and when the kids ability to eat a lot more food grew, I realized that I couldn't afford them, and gave them up. It became easier to make food that was not a substitute for something, and was naturally gluten free. Experimenting with dairy free, gluten free, egg free, whole grain baking recipes was too discouraging for me. Now I have a friend who is much more courageous in trying to bake such foods, and is doing really well. She gives me courage to try things that I wouldn't have taken the time to bother with otherwise. (Thank you so much, dear friend!) I adapted one of her recipes to have no processed oil, and to use oats and we now have delicious waffles, that are the best I have ever made. I am very happy with the results. They brown nicely and are not heavy. I used some certified gluten free oats as one of the ingredients, found at a local health and produce store. I made this in a Vita Mix, but I'm sure you could use a regular blender, though I haven't tried myself.

Oat Corn Waffles

In your Vita Mix blender jar put in the following:
6 Madjool Dates, pitted
1/4 cup cashews
2 TBSP flax seeds
2 cups certified gluten free oats
1 cup corn flour
1 cup corn meal
1 tsp salt
5 cups water

Blend until smooth, then add:
1 Tsp Baking Powder
Mix briefly.

Pour into your pre-heated waffle iron. Bake until crispy brown. It takes 9 minutes in my waffle iron. Keep them warm in the oven if not serving them right away to keep them crispy and warm. Serve with something yummy on top. I like to top it with thickened fruit.

Note: My guess at blender directions: Place dates, cashews, flax seeds, and 3 cups of the water in your blender jar. Blend until smooth. Place the remaining ingredients in a large bowl. Mix in the remaining water and date mixture. Then bake as directed.

Hint: If you have a seasoned waffle iron, you won't need to spray it with some kind of oil when making waffles. I learned this trick from my grandma long ago concerning cast iron skillets, and cookie sheets. And I learned it works really well with waffle irons too. I was able to bake these waffles without using any oil on the waffle iron. When I first bought the waffle iron I coated the iron with oil, and baked the oil on for quite a while with no batter in the baker. Now I wash up the iron as needed with a damp cloth, but don't immerse it in sudsy water. It works really well.

Fruit Sauce

1 quart bag of frozen peaches, blueberries or strawberries
2 TBSP tapioca flour or starch
1/3 cup cold water

Place the frozen fruit in a sauce pan on medium heat. Add a little water if necessary. Put on a lid. Bring to a boil. Mix the tapioca flour into the cold water in a little cup. Pour the mixture into the fruit and stir. The fruit will quickly thicken. Add a sweetener only if you must.

Peace After the Storm

After the big storm, there was peace. It was almost as if it didn't happen, except there is enough debris around to remind you that it did. As the sun got ready to set the evening of the storm, the clouds revealed their golden lining lighting up snow covered peaks. It felt a bit like a rainbow promise after Noah's flood.

Some of you have asked what happened to my husband's glasses. Well, they haven't been found yet. From his best calculations, he figures they are likely out somewhere in a neighbor's field or beyond.

More About the Big Wind

My daughter has written her version of what happened on the day of the big wind. She was the one who actually saw the antenna tower go down, and she wrote about it in a vivid way. You can read about it on her blog.

And the Tower Came Tumbling Down

The big wind came, and we got to watch as it blew most everything off the neighbor's roof.
Dust filled the sky, making it a dark, foggy looking gray.
The wind was blowing when I got up in the morning. It was pretty stiff, but not too unusual. We can get winds that shake the house, rattle windows and whistles down chimney pipes. But I felt like something was different. I made breakfast for the kids and I and started over my plans for the day, but they were not to be. I felt impressed to fill pitchers of drinking water, and have my daughter fill the bathtub with flushing water. Just about the time that was done, and my husband was going to head over to the office, the wind really picked up. Things were really rattling and banging around outside. My daughter looked out the window, and screeched, "The wind just blew Daddy's tower down!" I couldn't believe it! My husband went shooting outside, as did the kids. If I had known how strong the wind was, I wouldn't ave let them go. I raced to change from a skirt to jeans, thinking my husband might need some help.

Once outside I couldn't see anyone. I couldn't find my husband. I ran to the road, and found a flying garbage can that I captured and ran to stuff in the shop. It almost carried me away. I found my husband wrestling with a large antenna piece that had broken off his 90 foot ham radio tower. He was trying to hold it on the ground. I ran to the house for something. Then my daughter came in to tell me that the wind had blown away daddy's eye glasses, leaving him sitting there virtually blind. He had no idea which way they went. The wind was close to 100 mph, by our best guess, but no one really knows. The highest recorded was 78 mph, but that was several miles away, and they don't know what the wind speeds were after their instruments stopped working. My husband says it was the strongest wind he had ever been in, and he has been in some really windy places before.
The wind did damage at almost every house on our road. Trees and branches knocked to the ground. The wind didn't take any of our trees, but it really messed up the winter remains of my garden. The leeks no longer has tops, and the kale was uprooted. Bark was blown away, and landscaping cloth pulled up.
The biggest surprise of all was to find my husband's tower in a twisted pile stretched across the driveway. He says it was well secured with guy lines. But for it to go down as it did, two guy lines must have snapped at once. He found evidence of a bolt as big as his finger snapped in two. But do you know what the miracle is? The tower didn't hit the shop, any nearby vehicles, or the power lines, and it could of done so. God is good. Even in the bad things we find his care. He was with us in the storm.

News brief: 2.5 Days Without Electricity

News Brief: We've finally got our electricity, water, heat, showers, and internet service back. Two and a half days ago a huge wind (mini huricane?) came to our door, huffed and puffed, and blew a lot of things down or away, far, far away. We are ok, and very thankful. Things could have turned out differently.

More news and pictures to follow, when I can get caught up. Homeschool needs to start again tomorrow after our holiday break. Meanwhile you can look at a friends blog to see a bit more of what has been going on in our valley.

Update on the Beaded Bell Ornament

A dear friend went searching on the web and found a place where you can order beads and instructions to make four beaded bell ornaments. I am so excited and have already placed my order. You can take a look at this site. Thank you to my friend, and to all of you who searched.

Elizabeth Joy

See You Next Year

I remember when I was a kid the first time someone said to me "See you next year!" on New Year's Eve. I was so puzzled as to why it would be so long until I saw them again. Then when the joke was revealed to me, I thought it was the funniest thing around. I am guessing I must have said it to everyone. Well, I haven't said it to anyone one for a good many years now, but remembered it today. I knew it would strike my kids funny.

At the grocery store, I was talking to an older woman I know, and as she went on her way, I said without thinking, "See you next year." All of a sudden, I felt like a little kid again who had just repeated their favorite joke too someone one too many times. She didn't realize it was supposed to be funny. But the older man coming out of the next check out, heard it all, and did enough whole hearted laughing to cheer up the whole store. I'm glad someone is looking forward to next year. But the really funny thing is that if I saw him tomorrow, I wouldn't know who he was, because I didn't get more then a glimpse of him before he was gone.

We did have a nice evening. Some friends invited a bunch of us to meet in a room at the church for a potluck supper, and table games. Most of the people there had babies, so things shut down early, but that was just fine with me. We put our kids to bed at a reasonable time too. I have no desire to spend the evening waiting for midnight to come. And we choose to have nothing to do with alcohol.

It has been a good year, and we look forward to all the days of life that God gives us. My desire is to spend the next year walking with God, and let Him take care of the details.

Wanted: Beaded Bell Ornament Pattern

In 1980 and 1981 I attended a one room school for 7th and 8th grade. I really loved it there. They were my best two years of school ever. A kind lady from our church came in and taught us how to make beaded bell ornaments for Christmas. I made two and have treasured them ever since. Unfortunately one was broken a couple years ago. I have missed it ever since and would like to make a replacement, but I can't find a pattern. Do any of you have one or know where to find one? I would so appreciate your help! The picture above shows my remaining bell which was on our Christmas tree again this year.

Update on the story: We have found some bells you can order that come with beads and instructions here.

Sew Crafty Friday - PJs for the Whole Family

So what was I so busy sewing before Christmas that I couldn't tell you about? I was making some special gifts for everyone who was at my house on Christmas eve. I had to ask for measurements, which some were hesitant to reveal, but gave anyway.

Everyone received sleepwear. I had a hard time photographing them. These photos aren't perfectly clear, but they will give you the idea of what I created.

Daddy and son got matching jungle frogs.












Auntie and niece got matching hot flowers and hearts.












Auntie got ladybugs and someday soon her daughter will have ladybugs too.












Grandma, Grandpa, and two grandsons got bears and fish.

Update on the Camel Packs

Here is my update on how the camel packs worked as a substitute for stockings. The kids loved them. It was much easier to tie them to a chair then to find a place to hang them. I think I made these slightly too small, 10" wide by 12" high. If I were to make them again, I would make them 12" wide and 14" high. And I would sew the corner deeper on the bottom corners, giving a bit more depth to the bags.

Inside each bag this year was something to read, a Sudoku puzzle book, a water bottle, a toy, a fruit leather bar, a gluten free breakfast bar, dried pineapple, a few nuts, and of course a small stuffed animal. (I have been saving these since after last Valentine's Day' clearance sales.)

Blog Name Change

I'm changing the name of my blog from Mama's Song: Joy in the Morning Light to Wildflower Morning. Wildflower Morning is the name of my other blog that I have long abandoned, but the name I still like very much. I'm leaving the URL of my blog the same, at least right now. I'm not sure how to change it actually, so until I do, I won't. And then hopefully I'll begin working on how this little blog looks.

CeCe and the Christmas Tree

I knew it wouldn't be long after we got the Christmas angel on top of the tree until CeCe our mischievous kitten would come to explore it's wonders. Sure enough, low hanging ornaments were an instant attraction and so were the bright shining lights. CeCe is a smart kitten, so I thought if we started right off, that she would be able to learn that we did not want her playing with the tree. I kept a close eye on the tree, and as soon as I saw her giving in to temptation, I would swoop her up and take her straight outside, away from all the fun, away from all the toys, away from all her favorite people. She would sit at the sliding door and looking longingly in hoping to be let in. After 5 or 10 minutes, I would let her in, and sure enough, she would be quickly back at the tree. Out the door CeCe would be carried.

But the real mischief started when she discovered that a tree is for climbing. Oh my! There are so many things for a little kitty to get tangled in when she is up in the middle of the tree. It appeared to be fun at first, and then she got a little scared. I rescued her and took her out. She only got in the tree one more time, and I think it has been her last time, as I havent' seen her bother the tree since.
In fact, since then on more then a couple occasions I have found her lounging and sleeping at the base of the tree. My hunch was right. She is a pretty smart cat and learns quickly.

Beauty, the Christmas Ornament

Just a few days before Christmas we experienced a wonderful thing. Earlier in the fall, as the weather was starting to get cold, Forest found some cocoons, and brought them in. We forgot about them until this week, when one hatched. She is a sulfur of some kind and a real beauty. Within minutes of Forests discovery, she flew over and landed on the Christmas tree. We've never had a live ornament before. Beauty (her name) is one that I wish I could keep from year to year. But her life was destined to be short. If we had set her free outside, she would have quickly frozen. So we let her stay inside. She liked to rest above the curtain rod in the living room. She was loved while she lived.

Sew Crafty Friday - Quilted Table Runner

I do have one more item for Sew Crafty Friday. I made my first quilted table runner. I've made large quilts that require much patience, because it takes so long to finish. But this table runner took me just part of a day! It was so much fun. I purchased the blue and white snowflake fabrics, and then was able to finish it off with fabrics from my stash. At one point I was ready to make a run to the fabric store, because I didn't have the right fabrics to go with the pattern. But then I decided that I'd rather make do with what I had, and I'm glad I did. I changed the pattern to work with the fabric I already had. It turned out great! It was fun to piece, and easy to machine quilt. I wanted the snow flakes to match the winter theme. But also to remind us of how God wants to make our hearts whiter then snow.

P.S. Yes, after I looked at the pictures, I did find a piecing mistake. Isn't it wonderful that our salvation is based on the perfection of Jesus, and not our own?

Sew Crafty Friday - Camel Packs

There has been lots of things happening here at the house now that we are on Christmas break, and blogging isn't one of them. I've been sewing up a Christmas gift storm, but unfortunately can't show you what I've been making. Someone might peek and find out what they are getting. But I can show you one thing I have finished this morning.
We celebrate the coming of the Messiah to this world every Christmas. I want to do all I can to help my kids remember Jesus, our Savior. It is so easy for things non-spiritual to take over, so I am doing all I can to focus our minds and hearts on real reasons to celebrate. This year I am taking a big steps and getting rid of stockings. We don't honor Santa Claus, so it is probably a good idea to get rid of one more reminder of him. But we do like the idea of having a place to put some small gifts for the children. My friend Sandy told me how she would have stockings out on Christmas morning, and that her kids could open them when they got up without permission from the grownups. Inside would be some small gifts and some kind of food treats to hold them over until breakfast. This way the adults did not have to get up too early. After the adults got around to fixing a nice breakfast, eating it, and then cleaning up, the main presents were finally opened. It worked so well, because no one was still sleepy or hungry, and there was no mess in the kitchen to come back to when Christmas dinner was cooked.

At the Timberdoodle homeschool curriculum website I had read about how they had made some simple burlap camel packs to help them celebrate the gifts of the wisemen. Well, I love the camel pack idea, and decided to combine it with Sandy's ideas, and add a Wise Man's party on Christmas Eve, because, "Wise men still seek Him." Christmas Eve at our house is going to be all about seeking Jesus. I am going to write out the story of the birth of Jesus, in a reader's theater form, so grownups don't fall asleep, and children have to pay attention so they can read their lines at the right time. At the time in the story when the wise men come, the men can slip out of the room and come in bearing gifts, all the gifts. This will be the first time they will be in the living room. This night only one gift can be opened, and the one gift will be from me, but it is still a secret, so I can't tell you what it is yet.


Christmas morning each child will find one of these camel packs stuffed with gifts at their chair at the table. I have decided not to put names on them, because each child will already know where their seat is at the table. They are made out of sturdy brown fabric found for $1 a yard on the clearance table. I lined them with green Christmas fabric that has horns and red ribbons for a little color, to remind us to be joyful for all the gifts of God.
I stitched some bias tape closed, and sewed them on the back of the packs to secure the packs to the chairs. I think different styles of chairs will need different ways of attachment, but this looks like it is going to work really well for us. I wanted to get this posted right away because you still have time to make some too, if you want too.

And since this is Thursday night, I'm going to make this my Sew Crafty Friday post. If you have done anything creative, feel free to link up at Shereen's blog.

Beautiful Dawning

There are benefits to getting up early, when the house is still quiet. There is often no time in my day more important then early morning prayer for the purpose of communion with Jesus, and study of the Bible for the purpose of knowing Him better.

Sunday morning, scenes of glory, to beautiful to describe crossed the sky, and only I was awake to enjoy it. The peaceful quiet soothed me. The air outside was crisp and cold. Snow covered fields reflected pinks, orange and red. I opened the door just enough to poke my telephoto out, and then wrapped back up in my blanket on the couch to enjoy the whole display.The love of God in the book of Deuteronomy on my lap amazed me. I had never realized that there was so much love from God in this Old Testament book. God loved His people long before He gave us John 3:16. "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life." He didn't start loving people just when Jesus came to earth. He was loving us long before, and He wasn't afraid to say it.

The word "love" is found 29 times in Deuteronomy. Here are some of my favorite verses I found there.

"What other nation is so great as to have their gods near them the way the Lord our God is near us whenever we pray to Him." Deuteronomy 4:7

"Because He loved your forefathers and chose their descendants after them, he brought you out of Egypt by his Presence and his great strength" Deuteronomy 4:37

"...The Lord your God has chosen you out of all the people on the face of the earth to be His people, His treasured possession. But the Lord did not set His affection on you and choose you because you were more numerous then other peoples, for you were the fewest of all peoples. But it was because the Lord loved you and kept the oath He swore to your forefathers that He brought you out with a might hand and redeemed you ...Know therefore that the Lord your God is God; He is the faithful God, keeping his covenant of love to a thousand generations of those who love Him and keep his commands." Deuteronomy 7:6-10

"There in the presence of the Lord you God, you and your family shall rejoice in everything you have put your hand to, because the Lord, your God has blessed you." Deuteronomy 12:7

"...the Lord your God loves you." Deuteronomy 23:5

And from the Gospel of John
John 16:27
"...the Father himself loves you because you have loved me and have believed that I came from God." John 16:27

This morning there was more snow. The sky was the same color as the snow. The sunrise colors are gone. But the love of God remains and warms my heart.

May the beautiful dawning of God's everlasting love brighten your day, much as it did mine. He is near you when you pray. He has redeemed you. He has made a covenant to keep loving you. You are His treasured possession.

My Turn to be Thrilled

Last week we had three days of this kind of weather. The kids were thrilled. They got in some good playing.
The neighbor cows weren't as thrilled, but they followed their farmer anyway. He had somehow stirred/plowed up the snow in a small field so that the cows cold find some grass.
I had to deal with this mess numerous times as the kids came in for replacement socks and gloves. I am glad there is vinyl flooring and not carpet by the back door

But then a big warm front pushed strong south winds into our valley. On Sunday you could see the snow melting off the fields and up the hills as the wind shook and rattled the house and mama's nerves.

But now it is my turn to be thrilled, for there is sunshine and blue sky among the scattered clouds, and I got to eat my breakfast out on the deck in a short sleeved cotton dress and I was just as warm as when I was in the house. (I drank a lemon drop smoothie). The air is around 60 degrees, but the warmth seems to gather on our deck so it felt like it was around 70 degrees. Oh that sun feels so good.

Sew Crafty Friday - kid's clothes

The week of Thanks giving I did a huge amount of sewing, but I was too busy to blog about it.
For Emily Rose I made a pinafore and bonnet to match the green gingham dress that I made for her a while back. The pinafore is longer then I expected, so I need to take some tucks to shorten it so the green will show at the bottom.
There has been brown horse fabric waiting (for a couple years?) in my stash for when I could make her some horse pants and vest. I managed to make these without Emily Rose knowing it. She was really surprised and quite happy.

After making Forest the seal shirt I wrote about a couple weeks ago, I made him some matching tan pants. Then I saw there was still some fabric of each color left. I thought I might be able to make a pieced seal shirt for him. So I set so work: a seal back, tan arms, tan hat, the front was pieced from both fabrics with a seal pocket. There was a little more seal fabric left, so I cut out the seal faces and patched the knees on the pants, and backside where a pocket might have been, and on the ears of the hood.

This is how much fabric was left over. This was a really fun three for the price of two deals.

I also hemmed the sleeves of a knit sweater. You can see the tutorial I wrote about it here.

Shorten Sweater Sleeves

Have you ever bought a sweater, only to find that the sleeves are too long? You push them up, tuck them under, but they never work quite right. Sweater sleeves are almost always too long for me, so in the past I haven't worn very many sweaters. I've wondered how one could shorten them, had some ideas on how I could shorten them, but wasn't brave enough to try it, lest I ruin a perfectly good sweater. I've gotten my courage up this winter though, with all the reconstruction I've been doing of other clothes. I started with a second hand store sweater, that I liked, in case it turned out right. But that I didn't like so much that I would cry if it didn't work.
1. First I tucked under the sleeves, while wearing the sweater, adjusting them until they were just the length I wanted wanted them to be. I pinned them at that length, and then removed the sweater.2. Using an adjustable sewing ruler, I measured 1 inch from the fold, and cut off the excess.3. Remove the pins. Take it to the sewing machine and zig zag the raw edge. Be careful to not stretch the edge. After it is stitched, fold the sleeve back up one inch, then fold the stitched edge under and re-pin.
4. Thread a needle and hand stitch the hem closed.
5. Enjoy wearing your sweater with sleeves just the right size.